Vincent's Final Fantasy VII
by vincent19666
Summary: This is a novelization of Final Fantasy VII, but mostly from Vincent's perspective.  I've added my own twists to the game and the only real pairing is VincentxTifa.
1. Vincent Valentine

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or any of it's characters.

Hey! Thanks for checking out this story!

This is a novelization of Final Fantasy VII mostly from Vincent's perspective and begins when they find Vincent in the Shinra Mansion. And the pairing is Vincent x Tifa.

Chapter One: Vincent Valentine

* * *

The team had reached Nibelheim, and was surprised as well as confused to discover that it was all there just as Cloud and Tifa remembered. The well was in the center of the town, the inn was still right at the entrance, their homes still stood, including Tifa and Cloud's own home; everything was like they remembered. However, upon asking a question to one of the villagers, none of them would know anything about what happened five years ago, and they would insist that nothing had happened. 

Also, perhaps even more frightening, there were people garbed in heavy black robes that covered their faces, so you wouldn't know whom they were. Cloud had asked one of these people about five years ago, however, all they would mumble was Sephiroth and some sort of reunion. They wouldn't say anything more and would talk as if Cloud and his team weren't there at all. It was slightly frightening, Aeris and Tifa thought they were sick, but Yuffie thought they were "psychos" and Barret, for the first time, agreed with her. Red XIII and Cait Sith didn't say much about it, they both seemed slightly perturbed by these odd people's knowledge. Cloud, however, was actually frightened by these people's knowledge, and actually pondered if they were survivors of the incident five years ago, and had completely lost their sanity.

Though the team was concerned about what had happened to the town, they thought little of it for now. Right now, they were chasing perhaps the most powerful man in existence, and they could be more concerned about what had actually happened here later. Besides, for the Shinra, it would be just about the easiest thing in the world to cover up what had actually happened. Cloud decided that right now they should go to the Shinra mansion, where Sephiroth lost his sanity. The place where Sephiroth found some sort of truth and completely lost it.

The place where the nightmare began.

Ever since they had come to the town, Tifa would often think, _Maybe I should tell Cloud… I'm scared but… he was never here five years ago… but… he knows everything about what had happened…_

In the end, however, Tifa would always decide to go against these thoughts. Although she didn't mean to go against the good of the team, since they should all be completely truthful with each other, she was worried about Cloud. He seemed so strange and as the journey continued, he'd seem even stranger. He occasionally had very strange and frightening episodes where he seemed to lose complete control of himself, and she was very worried that if she told the truth to Cloud, he might go completely insane.

It didn't take them long to walk through the small town and up to the Shinra Mansion. The mansion was perhaps one of the most frightening places that any of them had ever visited. Tifa and Cloud could remember all the frightening tales they had heard about the Shinra mansion. Stories about ghosts roaming the mansion and zombies that are trapped inside the frightening place. The most frightening of these tales, were the stories about a vampire in the basement of the mansion.

As children, they thought the story was false simply because there was no basement, though as an adult Cloud had managed to find the hidden basement. However, most people, including some adults, believed the vampire story, because some people had sworn that they saw the vampire inside, one of these people being the mayor of the town. The mayor said that the vampire appeared to be a young man in his late twenties, which was very odd since there were very few people in their twenties at the time in the village (most of them had been drafted into the Shinra military to fight against Wutai). That initiated some people to search around the mansion, some of the braver people of the town; however, they never found any vampire, zombie, monster, or even a person within the mansion.

Cloud and Tifa decided not to tell the rest of the group about the ghost stories about the mansion, as to not frighten them away, however, some still decided to stay outside.

"Are we all goin' in?" Barret asked once they reached the gate around the mansion.

Cloud looked back and shrugged, "Sephiroth might be here, it'd probably be for the best."

"What 'bout them creepy dudes," Barret asked. "We oughta keep an eye on 'em."

Cloud folded his arms and looked down in thought. "You're right…" Cloud mumbled, then looked up. "How about only four of us go in and the rest of you stay out here. If we run into any trouble, we'll give you a call."

"Aight," Barret nodded. "Who's stayin' out?"

"I'm definitely going in!" Yuffie exclaimed. "There'll probably be a bunch of materia!"

"I… want to go in too," Tifa told him. "I want to know what happened here…"

"Alright…"Cloud nodded. "How about me and the girls go in and the rest of you stay out here."

"Sounds good," Barret nodded, taking one of the PHS from the leader.

"See ya in a bit," Aeris waved as they passed the gate and headed into the mansion.

As they went inside, Cloud wanted to instantly head down to the basement to find out if Sephiroth had beaten them here, and if he hadn't, then they could maybe read some of the books that Sephiroth had. Maybe they could read on some sort of weakness that Sephiroth had that was written inside one of the books in the basement. Tifa agreed, though hesitantly as she remembered that the vampire was supposed to live in the basement, and Aeris instantly agreed, though probably just because that's what Cloud wanted to do.

Yuffie, however, wanted to look around the mansion, so it was thanks to her that they were able to discover the note.

"Hey guys!" Yuffie exclaimed from the left of the entrance. The team all looked back at the ninja as she waved a single piece of paper in the air. "Check this out!"

The trio walked over and Cloud snagged the note the girl and glanced it over.

"What is it?" Aeris asked, looking over his broad shoulder to read the note. "It's saying that there's a key inside of a safe somewhere that opens a door where some guy is."

"You mean… someone was locked away?" Tifa asked.

Cloud seemed to scan over the paper once more. "Seems like it…" Cloud murmured. "But… this paper seems really old, so he'd probably be dead by now…"

"But what if he isn't, Cloud?" Aeris asked, putting her hands on her hips. "We need to help him!"

"Yeah!" Yuffie exclaimed. "He might have materia!"

Tifa walked over and looked at the paper. "It seems like we'll need to find the combination to the safe first…" the martial artist murmured. "Lets split up and look for them."

Cloud sighed. "Alright… I guess Sephiroth can wait…" Cloud grumbled, then looked at Aeris, which brightened the ex-SOLDIER's face.

* * *

His eyes snapped open. 

He had heard people entering his mansion. This wasn't all that strange, every so often someone would come inside. Usually children on a dare and he would simply ignore it and go back to sleep but this… seemed different. He could hear a lot of rummaging, which meant that they may be fighting.

He knew that the mansion had some monstrosities running around, but it would rarely last this long. Perhaps… something different was happening.

* * *

The group, taking deep breaths to catch their breath, put their weapons away. Aeris took a deep breath as she healed the rest of the team's wounds. Yuffie had carelessly opened the safe, all of them completely unprepared for the monster that leapt out at them. 

However, through some quick planning and strategy, they had managed to defeat the monster with few challenges. "How the hell did that huge monster fit in there?!" Yuffie huffed.

"I… have no idea…" Tifa muttered as she caught her breath. She then walked up to the safe and glanced inside. She reached in and found what she was looking for, as well as an orb she recognized to be materia. She pulled out the items, "Here's the key and… a materia."

Yuffie quickly snatched the materia out of the martial artist's hand, shouting "Mine!" and putting it onto her weapon.

Cloud walked up and took the key out of Tifa's other hand. He looked over it and then put it down into his pocket. "The room's in the basement, right?"

"Yeah," Aeris nodded.

"Let's go then," the leader ordered.

Now, with the key, they descended into the basement, all careful and frightened. Each of them brought with a candle, because at a first glance there didn't seem to be any lights down there. However, as the continued down the creaky, wooden stairwell, there was a very dim light coming from the opposite side of the hallway, and so they all headed there.

The hallway, much like in Cloud's memory, is perhaps the most frightening place Tifa had ever been. The walls, unlike the rest of the mansion, were dirt or some sort of clay, and they could constantly feel eyes watching them. The hallway almost seemed alive, and they could hear soft, frightening creaks across the hallway. It was like the entire hallway seemed to watch them with a stern, frightening eye.

Tifa and Aeris seemed frightened; they stayed on their guard with their weapons drawn, cautiously watching the hallway. Yuffie was easily the most perturbed and frightened by the hallway, she was constantly jumping around the hallway and crying for the group to continue. Cloud, like Aeris and Tifa, traveled cautiously across the hallway, however, he couldn't withhold himself from every so often asking the team to hurry on. It was curious, it was almost like someone was calling him, _commanding_ him to continue to find the one who was using the light. This again made Tifa consider telling Cloud what she knew, but ultimately she decided against it once more.

"Sephiroth…" Cloud whispered, pausing the instant he saw the light. "We have to go down there…"

"Wait, Cloud!" Aeris cried in a hushed whisper. Cloud looked over at her and saw that her candle was up against a wall where a very old, almost ancient looking, door stood. Aeris was trying to turn the handle, however, it was locked. "The key… this is where it goes, this is where that person is!"

"Are you sure you want to go in there, Aeris?" Cloud asked with a look of worry for her. This made Tifa frown, she was becoming very well aware that Cloud and Aeris were in love with each other, and she wanted Cloud. Tifa and Aeris were good friends, they loved each other like sisters and, with Yuffie, and they had chats about the other boys in the group, Cloud usually being the center of attention. They were certainly close, but they were always in competition with Cloud… and the flower girl usually won. "Sephiroth may not wait too long, if he's here at all… Are you sure you wanna go in there first?"

"Yes," Aeris told him with certainty. "We have to save this person."

"All right," Cloud nodded, still looking slightly worried for Aeris. "Let's go in."

Cloud took the key out of his pocket, unlocked the door, and very slowly opened the door. The memories of the stories about the vampires and ghosts rushed into his head as he opened the door. He remembered the countless nights he couldn't sleep because he got frightened from the stories. He remembered how stricken with fear he was when the mayor, who was voted into office because of his honesty and being one of the most respectable people in the town, claimed he saw a vampire.

Once he opened the door he slowly walked into this frightening room. There were bookshelves around the room that were filled with books, as well as some books scattered across the ground. There were skeletons in the top right corner, that made Aeris cringe in fear behind Cloud, but he didn't seem to notice. There were also coffins scattered across the edge of the room, and another in the very center of the room. The entire room had the frightening atmosphere that matched that, if not intensified that, of the feeling you would get from a haunted room inside of a horror movie. The entire group was nearly paralyzed in fear, and none spoke, until, finally, Tifa broke the silence. "Cloud… let's leave," Tifa told him, remembering the frightening stories of the vampire.

"Maybe the coffins have treasures in them!" Yuffie exclaimed, surprising everyone by not being frightened, as she usually was the most frightened in the group, however, it seems her lust for treasure overwhelmed her fright.

"To wake me from a nightmare…" a voice emerged from the center coffin. Everyone, including Cloud, cringed back in fear, and Yuffie even dropped to the ground, brought her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around her legs.

Suddenly, the cover of the coffin flipped open, and a man majestically flipped out of the coffin and stood on one of the sides.

This man had long, raven hair that was combed to his left that easily reached his shoulder, and had some bangs coming out from a red headband that almost looked like a bandage across his forehead. He was wearing a black shirt and pants, both are a little baggy, and with two silver belts across his hips. His shirt had four silver buttons that were clasped which allowed it to conceal his chest, and was long sleeved, however, it was rolled up for his left arm, which instead seemed to not be a hand but a metal bronze claw. The hand of the almost golden claw had five very sharp, appearing almost as sharp as knives, fingers, while his right hand was covered in a black, five-fingered glove. He also had a tattered crimson cape on his back that had clasps connected at his neck, covering up his chin, and two unclipped clasped hanging loosely in front of his very thin stomach. He was glaring at the team with his hauntingly crimson red eyes, which almost paralyzed the group.

This man, if a man at all, must have been the vampire that the mayor had seen so long ago, especially since the mayor said the vampire appeared to be in his late twenties, much like this… being in front of them. Tifa wanted to run, but her legs felt like jelly, and she actually seemed surprised that she was still standing. Yuffie's teeth began to silently chatter against one another and, despite the fact that this being may have materia, she wanted to run away. Aeris lowered her head behind Cloud's back, as if trying to hide from the being, and wrapped her arms around Cloud's waist. Cloud wanted to reach for his sword, but the crimson eyes seemed to completely paralyze him.

"Who is it!?" the vampiric man demanded.

"A vampire!" Yuffie cried, burying her face in her knees.

"…" the man looked over them, the blood red eyes seemed to slightly calm, however, they were still cunning and seemed like they were still glaring at the team. "I have never seen you before. You must leave from this place."

The team was surprised by this man's offer, especial Cloud and Tifa. They both, remembering the tales and assuming that this man was in fact the vampire, expected the man to jump at them, attack them, and suck their blood or whatever it is vampires do.

"Y-You were having a nightmare…" Tifa murmured, she was frightened to speak, but she felt like she had to say something. She didn't want there to be any silence to give the man a chance to take back his offer, and since none of the group, including herself, could muster up the courage to leave, she knew she would have to do something.

The frightening man glanced over at her for a second, without any emotion on his stern, pale features. He glanced amongst the group, pondering if he should share with them any more information.

"Hmph… a nightmare…?" the vampiric man harshly growled. "My long sleep has given me time to atone."

"Atone?" Cloud asked. He was also frightened, but as long as he couldn't reach for his sword and if this person were to decide to attack them, they wouldn't stand a chance. But then again, if his Aeris was in trouble, he might be inclined to not only slay this being, but give him a completely merciless death. What made Cloud most curious about the man was the fact that he was here, in the Shinra mansion, needing to atone. It seemed very likely that this man may know of, or have been involved with, Sephiroth. Then again, judging by the man's age, he couldn't have been here very long, but it was still worth asking. "What do you mean?"

"I have nothing more to say to strangers," the man told them, though oddly enough remained calm, it almost seemed like he had no emotion at all, as if they had died long ago. "Get out. This mansion is the beginning of your nightmare."

"You couldn't have said it any better than that," Cloud unhappily nodded, thinking about Sephiroth and what had happened in the village five years ago.

"Hmm?" the man asked, suddenly seeming curious by what Cloud had said. "Just what do you know?"

Cloud was silent for a moment, curious if he should tell this man anything or not, but then answered, "It's just like you said, this mansion is the beginning of a nightmare. No, it's not a dream, though, it's for real. Sephiroth has completely lost his mind. He found the secrets that were hidden in this mansion."

"Sephiroth!?" the man exclaimed, and this time, for half a second, he flashed a shocked expression, though it quickly faded. To Tifa, this man was beginning to seem less and less like a vampire, and more like an actual human, like Cloud and herself. The others seemed to feel this way as well, since Yuffie stood up, though still seemed very jumpy, and Aeris slowly rose her face over Cloud's shoulder and looked at the man, though still she was hiding behind Cloud.

"You know Sephiroth?!" Cloud exclaimed, amazed at this information, glad that he had decided to explain himself to the man if it would help him get any information on Sephiroth.

"…" the man seemed to ponder for a moment, then declared, "You start first."

"All right," Cloud nodded, knowing that he needed all the information he could get about Sephiroth, even if it meant sharing their information. "It all started five years ago…"

Cloud then told his and his teammates story. He explained what had happened in the village fie years earlier, how Sephiroth found out something and went insane. He then briefly explained their journey across the world in hunt of Sephiroth, and how they eventually showed up here, only to discover that it had been rebuilt.

"… And that's it," Cloud finished. Now that he was done, he felt foolish for telling the story. However, the man's stern crimson eyes seemed to demand the information from him, as though the eyes put him in a trance to explain everything.

"Hmm… interesting…" the man murmured. "So… Sephiroth knows of his birth… Shinra is still in power… and Hojo…" He then seemed to get lost in thought, and looked down at his coffin, and it seemed like he was recalling some ancient memory.

Cloud nodded, "Now it's your turn."

The man shook his head, looking back up at them, and said, "I apologize… however, I can not speak."

"You promised!" Yuffie cried.

The vampiric man seemed to ignore her and instead said, "Hearing your stories has added upon me yet another sin. More nightmares shall come to me now, more than I previously had. Now… please leave."

The man then, once again majestically, flipped into the coffin and the cover seemed to float in the air as if to cover the coffin, however Tifa, just as it covered the coffin, then blurted out, "Who are you?" She wanted to know more about this mysterious person. She wanted to know more about him because he knew about Sephiroth, which also means he may know about Jenova, and possible whatever it is that's happening to Cloud.

"… You're still here…" the man muttered, flipping out of the coffin once again. He looked over the team, taking a second glance at Tifa, and then asked, "Why are you still here?"

"We told you all those things," Tifa told him and shrugged, as she was beginning to feel somewhat more relaxed around this man, since he didn't appear to be an enemy. "You could at least tell us your name…"

The man looked among the group once again, halting at Tifa, as she was the one who seemed the most curious about him, and then said, "I was with… the Shinra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research, otherwise known as the Turks… I was known as Vincent Valentine."

"The Turks?!" Aeris exclaimed, cowering slightly, while Cloud stood more defensively in front of her and felt for the hilt of his sword.

"_Formerly_ of the Turks," Vincent repeated, making Aeris slightly less tense, though Cloud still seemed like he didn't trust the man. "I no longer have any affiliation with Shinra. Who would you all be?"

"I'm Tifa Lockheart, I was in AVALANCHE," Tifa told the man.

"I'm Yuffie!" she exclaimed, jumping in the air with enthusiasm, however, once his crimson eyes glanced at her, her enthusiasm lowered, but still some remained. "I'm… a materia hunter…"

"I'm Aeris…" Aeris murmured. "The ancient…"

"I'm Cloud Strife, formerly of SOLDIER," Cloud confidently told him.

"You were also with Shinra…?" Vincent asked with small hint of curiosity. "Do you… perhaps know Lucrecia?"

"Who?" Cloud asked, racking his brain to try and remember the name, though surprised himself by realizing that he barely remembered anything from his SOLDIER days.

"… … …" Vincent was silent for a moment, it seemed he was either allowing Cloud more time to think or questioning himself if he should continue. "Lucrecia. The woman who gave birth so Sephiroth."

"Birth?" Cloud asked, suddenly more astonished by this man. "I thought he was created by Jenova cells."

"That is simply a theory that isn't completely wrong…" Vincent murmured with four pairs of eyes watching him, almost seemed to beg for more information. "Sephiroth was actually birthed from a beautiful woman. That woman was Lucrecia. She was an assistant to the great Professor Gast of the Jenova Project… beautiful… Lucrecia…"

"She was a human experiment?" Aeris gasped.

"There was no way to cancel the experiment…" Vincent depressingly told them, looking down at his coffin. "I couldn't stop it… That was my sin. I allowed the one I loved, the one I respected most, to face the worst."

"You're sleeping in a coffin to atone for a sin?" Tifa asked him, with an odd look on her face. She has heard of people atoning in several different ways, but locking oneself up in a coffin has never been one of them.

Vincent didn't reply, deciding he didn't need to explain his reasons to anyone, and instead lied back in the coffin and closed the top. Silently from the coffin they could hear, "Please… let me sleep…"

"Poor guy…" Aeris muttered.

"He's a vampire!" Yuffie cried. "And he didn't even have any materia!"

"He seemed so depressed…" Tifa whispered, then looked up at Cloud. _He lost the person he loved…_ she thought. _What if I allow the same thing to happen with Cloud and me…_?

"We have to keep going," Cloud told the rest of the group. "Clearly he doesn't want to help us."

"Do we really want help from a vampire anyway?" Yuffie obnoxiously asked, as though he never frightened her in the first place.

"Well… all right," Aeris silently replied and nodded. "We still have to find Sephiroth anyway."

"Yeah," Cloud nodded, and then started to walk back into the frightening hallway and headed towards the library.

* * *

Vincent listened to their brief conversation as they left the room. He was thinking deeply about the way everything was going. 

_Sephiroth…_ Vincent thought. _Wrecking havoc onto the world… this is… my fault…_

Vincent thought of Sephiroth. After being in the coffin for thirty years, he hadn't heard anything on Sephiroth. But now… it seems Hojo's experiment had worked. The insane scientist had successfully created the super soldier he had desired, one with the power of the Cetra.

Vincent felt guilty. It was his fault that Sephiroth was created in the first place and now he has become a pain on the world.

Perhaps… Vincent could help. It would be better to go out and stop Sephiroth with this group than to sit in the coffin for all of eternity.

But on the other hand… he could quite possibly only make things worse for the already unstable planet. Much worse.

Vincent took a deep breath, thinking deeply about what he should do.

* * *

The laboratory, like the hallway, was almost identical to how the ex-SOLDIER remembered it, there was that old lab table up against the right wall, and the walls of the rest of the place, including the floor, were covered in books. On the far wall stood three tall tubes, suspiciously tall enough to hold a large man of at least seven feet in height. 

To the right of the entrance was a short hallway, lined with bookshelves which were completely filled with books. On the opposite side of this short hallway was a desk which was also filled with books and had several candles for lighting. Cloud began to head to where the desk was, the very desk where he saw Sephiroth reading these books all day and night five years ago, and there was Sephiroth with his back to the party. "Sephiroth!" Cloud exclaimed.

Sephiroth never turned to them, and instead seemed to look straight forward, as if he were staring intently at something there. "Being here brings back memories…" Sephiroth announced and turned to them. His fierce green eyes didn't seem to stare at any of them individually, but at all of them as a whole. However, he then seemed to stare down at Cloud, and asked, "Are you going to participate in the Reunion?"

"I don't even know what a reunion is!" Cloud shouted at him. "You destroyed all my family! My friends! I don't have anyone to go to a reunion _for_!"

"Jenova will be at the reunion," Sephiroth told them, completely ignoring everything that Cloud had said. "Jenova will join the reunion becoming a calamity from the skies."

"Jenova?" Cloud asked. "A calamity from the skies? You mean she wasn't an ancient?!"

"… I see…" Sephiroth murmured, his fierce green eyes glaring down at Cloud. "I don't think you have the right to participate. I will go north past Mt. Nibel. If you wish to find out… then follow…"

"Reunion? Calamity from the skies?" Cloud asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Follow me… and find out," Sephiroth told him, and started to leave.

"You aren't going anywhere!" Tifa cried, standing in a fighting stance.

"Yeah, that's right!" Cloud announced, drawing out his mighty blade. "You aren't going anywhere! I'm getting my revenge!"

"You won't be able to stop _me_!" Sephiroth bellowed, and began to float in front of them. Sephiroth then threw a green materia at Cloud, an impact that was so hard that Cloud fell backwards, and then Sephiroth quickly flew past them.

Yuffie quickly snatched the materia and put it into her weapon, when she realized she didn't have any slots left, so she handed it back to Cloud. "It's a destruct materia," Yuffie said.

"Damn!" Cloud exclaimed as he stood, completely ignoring the young ninja. "We have to follow him! We have to go past Mt. Nibel!"

"Of course," Aeris replied, resting her palm on his shoulder and smiling widely at him, another frown emerged from Tifa upon noticing this. "We have to find Sephiroth. We have to stop him from killing more people. And we have to avenge all the people who were killed by him all ready. We can't give up now."

"You're right, Aeris," Cloud said, looking back at her and lovingly smiling. He then announced to the rest of the group, "We have to keep going, we have to keep fighting, no matter how hard it might be, we have to keep trying. We have to save the world from Sephiroth."

"Yeah so let's get going!" Yuffie exclaimed. "This place is getting _boring_!"

"Or is it just because you're scared?" Aeris playfully smiled.

"Oh… shut up!" Yuffie exclaimed, giggling as she did, along with Aeris. Tifa showed a fake smile, but it was hard for her when she saw the strong love connection between Cloud and Aeris.

"Let's go," Tifa told them, desperately wanting to leave, and manage to get away from Aeris and Cloud. "We can't let him get too far ahead."

"Right," Cloud nodded, heading back into the dark hallway.

There, however, they all instantly stopped. In the very dim light, they could see a figure standing there, and they all felt the being's presence. Cloud drew his sword, Aeris took out her staff, Yuffie drew her ninja star, and Tifa cracked her metal knuckles onto her fingers.

"S-Sephiroth?" Cloud asked. He was worried because he was unprepared, but he would fight if he had to. He would fight for Aeris, and he was prepared to give his life against Sephiroth.

The being raised his hand, and the group tensed back, and fired a gun. _Fired a gun_? Cloud thought, almost too dumbstruck to know where the bullet hit. _Sephiroth would never use a gun_!

They then heard a screech behind them and they saw some sort of large monstrous bat fall to the ground. "Who's there?!" Tifa cried. She knew that there was no way that Sephiroth would use a gun, so she knew had no idea who the person could be.

"It is I," the being said in a calm deep voice. "Vincent Valentine."

"Oh… Vincent," Tifa relaxed a little, knowing that it wasn't Sephiroth, but also knowing that Vincent wasn't necessarily trustworthy either.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked, almost acting hostile.

"If I go with you, will I meet Hojo?" Vincent asked them.

"Well, eventually," Cloud shrugged, somewhat surprised by the question. During their conversation, he didn't seem particularly hostile about any person, so why would he suddenly bring up the old scientist? "We're going up against Shinra as well as Sephiroth. Eventually we'll probably have to fight him."

"Lucrecia…" Vincent muttered, though they barely heard him. "I shall go with you."

"Wh-what?!" Yuffie cried. She, like the rest of the group, was completely surprised by Vincent's announcement.

"Formerly being of the Turks, I may be of some assistance," Vincent told them calmly, as if they didn't seem shocked at all.

"B-But you're a vampire!" Yuffie cried.

"I am no vampire," Vincent announced to them in his usual tone.

"Then why were you in a coffin?!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Normal people don't sleep in coffins!"

"I'm… hardly normal…" Vincent told the group. "Either way, it is up to you if I go or not."

"I think he can come," Aeris told the group. "He hasn't done anything against the group…"

"Yeah, I guess," Cloud agreed, though probably simply because it was Aeris who had suggested it.

Tifa thought on this, he did seem very odd, sleeping in a coffin was certainly something most people wouldn't do, and he does seem very dark, but at the same time he had, as Aeris had said, done nothing against the group. Also, there was something about Tifa that made her want to bring Vincent along with the group as well, probably because what he had said, _I allowed the one I loved, the one I respected most, to face the worst_, was very much like how she feared it may be with Cloud. Though Cloud loved Aeris, and she didn't know if anything like that had happened with Vincent or not.

"I… think he can come with us…" Tifa nodded confidently. "Just like Aeris said, he didn't do anything against the group."

"Oh _fine_!" Yuffie exclaimed angrily. "Let's just get outta this place!"

"Getting scared, Yuffie?" Tifa playfully asked. Teasing Yuffie was so easy, she and Aeris did it very often. The girls, especially at night, were always very friendly with each other, and giggled as if schoolgirls.

"No!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Now let's get out of here," Cloud announced, leading the group out of the basement, with Vincent silently traveling with them, between Cloud and the girls, all of whom were very careful, in case he might do something against the group.

* * *

What do you think? 

Any good?

PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	2. Mt Nibel

Hey! Thanks for coming back!

I hope you like the chapter and remember to REVIEW PLEASE!!!

Chapter Two: Mt. Nibel

* * *

Upon reaching the exit of the mansion, Barret, Red XIII, and Cait Sith rushed up to Cloud, with their weapons drawn. Vincent calmly glanced over these three, Red XIII, otherwise known as Nanaki, was a beast that somewhat resembled a cross between a cat and a dog, and had a large maim on his head. Cait Sith was easily the oddest of this group, it was a black cat that held a megaphone that sat on top of a very large mechanical moogle and had a large backpack attached to his back. And finally Barret, the large man with dark skin, was rippled in muscles and also had a large backpack attached to his back and had an unusual gun arm that was pointed directly at him. 

"Cloud!" Barret cried as he raised his gun arm. "There's a damn _vampire_ behind ya!"

"Hey! Stop it!" Aeris exclaimed, as she, Tifa, and Cloud leaped in front of Vincent, while Yuffie simply stood there, just watching what was going on with a grin on her face.

"Jus what's goin' on?!" Barret angrily demanded, his eyes furiously watching the others.

"Relax, Barret," Red XIII patiently told Barret. "Allow them a chance to explain."

After a short pause, Vincent stepped in front of those who leapt in front of him, and began, "I apologize for not explaining… my name is Vincent Valentine. I choose to assist Cloud and his comrades on your journey to defeat…" he was about to finish his statement, but the painful memories that had emerged by simply thinking of the final word had made him pause, "Sephiroth…"

"What you got against Sephiroth, vamp?!" Barret aggressively asked, as if furious at Vincent for some unknown reason.

"…" Vincent was silent and instead just kept his eyes glaring at the three members of the team he hadn't previously met. "I am not a vampire, so I would appreciate it if you wouldn't call me one."

"Besides, you don't even know the least of it!" Yuffie suddenly added. "We found him sleeping in a _coffin_!"

Vincent cruelly glared at Yuffie, who upon noticing it jumped backwards about five feet, and then glanced back at the rest of the group. "Despite my… accommodations… I am not a vampire."

"Aight, fine," Barret grumbled, lowering his weapon. "But what's yo problem wit Sephiroth? N' Shinra for that matter?"

"…" Vincent was silent, however kept his keen, crimson eyes on the party.

"Damn!" Barret shouted after not getting his answer. "I don't trust this bastard fo' a minute!"

"He was a Turk," Tifa answered for the mysterious man, though looked at Vincent to make sure if it was proper information. He didn't reply, so she assumed it was correct, and then continued, "And he knows something about Sephiroth… that's about all we know…"

"I say he either tells us everything, or we leave 'im 'ere!" Barret proclaimed, then looked over the group. "Who's wit me?! Besides, we can't trust no damn Turk!"

"He _was_ with the Turks," Cloud replied to Barret's proclamation. He imagined that it angered Vincent just as much as it angered Cloud when they were back in Midgar and Barret kept accusing him for things just because he used to be in SOLDIER. "He isn't anymore."

"Well, that still ain't enough fo' me!" Barret shouted back. "I need ta know a little mo' than that!"

"I apologize," Vincent hesitantly told him. "However, I cannot speak."

"Well, I say we leave 'im!" Barret exclaimed. "Who's wit me?!"

"I think he can come," Cait Sith disagreed. "The more the merrier!"

"Cloud, have you told Vincent any of our journey?" Red XII calmly asked.

"…" Cloud looked down shamefully at his feet, but then quickly raised his his head to face the group once again. "Yeah… I… pretty much told him everything…"

"DAMMIT!" Barret bellowed angrily, turning away from the others and uncontrollably shaking his fist. After a minute of this, he turned back to Cloud and shouted, "You dumbass! You done tol' a damn _Turk_ everything!"

"I am no longer a Turk," Vincent told him as calmly as always, despite the fact that he was beginning to get extremely annoyed with Barret; the former leader was far too stubborn for Vincent's liking. "Also, whether you do or don't allow me to join your little… team, I shall hunt down Professor Hojo."

"What's your relationship with Professor Hojo?" Red XIII instantly asked as his catlike ears perked up, curious as he was an experiment to that man.

Vincent raised his bronze claw, and gazed down at it, as well as the rest of the group. Their eyes, especially Tifa's, Aeris's, and Yuffie's, were wide. However, raising his hand didn't draw any more attention to it that there all ready was, many of their eyes, actually all of them except for Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and Red XIII, whose eyes would still slip up a little, were glued to it. Still, they didn't know who had done it, and they were all utterly terrified to see that Hojo, or any man for that matter, would do such a terrible thing. The group was silent for a few minutes, until Cait Sith, who finally tore his gaze away from the claw, managed to mutter, "He… gave you that…? _Creepy_!"

"…" Vincent lowered his claw, returning his gaze to the team. "Now, may I assist you, or shall I travel on my own?"

"…" Barret was quiet, then seemed to explode in anger. "_Aw fine_! It's up to y'all!"

"I believe he can come," Red XIII decided. "Being an experiment to Hojo as well, I believe I can understand what you must be going through."

Vincent was silently surprised to see that another experiment of Hojo was in the group, but hid it well and slightly nodded, then turned to the young ninja who was still standing in her frightened stance after her jump back. She was the only one, besides Barret, who had yet to state her mind, and he felt that if anyone would deny his company he wouldn't torment them with his presence. "What do you think, Yuffie?" Vincent asked in his usual, cold tone.

Yuffie, however, slightly blushed and looked down at her feet to hide it. No one, ever, consulted her on what to do yet. And now this total stranger asked her something she had always secretly wanted to be asked by someone in the group. After she was certain the blush had faded from her face, she looked back up and answered, "Hmm… all right!"

He then glanced at Tifa, who quickly answered, "I think he can come."

"Me too," Aeris replied.

"Same here," Cloud told the tall, mysterious man. "If I thought you couldn't have come with us, I wouldn't have told you about our journey."

"Gaw!" Barret furiously growled. "Fine! Da damn _Turk_ can join!"

"Relax, Barret," Cloud sternly told him, causing the large man to grunt and cross his arms. "Now, we should head up Mt. Nibel, then journey north. That's what Sephiroth told us."

"Good, let's go," Red XIII nodded and looked towards the mountain. "Hmm… it may be a challenge to climb that without some rope…"

"Nope, we'll be fine," Tifa told them, surprising all of them but Cloud and Vincent, though Vincent might have been surprised, he just didn't look it. The mountain looked very steep, and it was very surprising that they wouldn't need rope. "I used climb these mountains a lot, and I remember a lot of the paths. We won't need ropes, unless the paths changed."

"Well, I can trust _Tifa_," Barret muttered, glaring at Cloud and Vincent. "Now les go!"

"Yeah," Cloud nodded as the group headed towards the mountain.

Vincent began to head towards the mountain as well, but then Tifa grabbed his human arm, and smiled sweetly up at him once he looked back at her, "I have to apologize for Barret… he can be a bit stubborn at times…"

Vincent simply nodded and then was about to follow the rest of the group, when Aeris called, pointing behind them, "Hey, those guys are following us!"

The group quickly spun around, worried that it may be Shinra soldiers or the Turks, instead they spotted about five of the black robed men slowly making their way to the mountain. They seemed incredibly slow and walked with a limp, making them seem very sick, clearly in no mood to fight the team, if that is what they intended on doing, or climb Mt. Nibel.

Barret, always being so quick to anger, aimed his gun-arm at the nearest black robed figure. "Stop right there!" Barret shouted. "I _knew_ there was sumthin wrong wit y'all! Now you are gonna tell me what the hell's goin' on or I'm gonna start shootin'!"

However, the dark figure simply kept walking, despite the mighty threat that came from Barret and his gun arm. The man, in fact, didn't even seem to hear them, and instead kept his very slow speed up to the group. Once he reached them, Cloud tore his blade out of its sheath, and was prepared to battle. He didn't expect much, but he certainly wasn't going to risk losing anyone, especially Aeris.

"Now answer my damn questions!" Barret bellowed at the figure. However, it never responded and simply continued walking through the group, and toward the mountain.

"What's he going to do?" Tifa asked no one in particular. "I… don't think that he'll be able to climb the mountain…"

"Who cares?!" Yuffie cried. "Let's just keep going!"

"I say we take care of 'em now," Barret told them, completely ignoring the young materia hunter. "They probably workin' fo Shinra or sumthin'!"

"No!" Aeris shouted at Barret. "They haven't done anything wrong! They're innocent as far as we know!"

"Ya, well, I ain't riskin' it!" the enormous man bellowed. "I'm goin' ta stop 'em right _now_!"

He was prepared to fire at the closest of the people he previously accused to be 'psychos', but Aeris quickly jumped in the way. "He hasn't done _anything_!" Aeris screamed at Barret. "If they do something, then _fine_… but they haven't!"

Barret fumed in rage, he never got along with Aeris and never will. Originally, he admired Aeris, she had sacrificed herself to save Marlene, but her peaceful methods aggravated him far more than he ever imagined. He also began to despise how Cloud always agreed with her, and loathed how they were always being all 'lovey dovey' with each other. So Barret somewhat expected what had happened next.

"Barret, calm down," Cloud said, trying to calm the man down so he wouldn't shoot Aeris, not that anyone really thought he would. Everyone knew that Barret was good at heart, despite how mean he may seem, he's usually just doing what he thinks is best for the team. "They really haven't done anything."

"He's right," Vincent suddenly spoke. Everyone looked over at Vincent with a very clear look of dread. Everyone knew that trying to convince Barret to change his views was just next to pointless. But when someone that Barret personally didn't like or trust argued with him, nothing good could come from it.

"Who are you to talk?!" Barret demanded. "You was a damn Turk! You killed people who didn't do nothin' all the time!"

"Exactly," Vincent nodded. "If you kill them, how would you be any different from the Turks?"

"Yeah!" Aeris instantly agreed. "You're way better than a Turk, aren't you?"

"You're damn right I am!" Barret growled, stepping over to Vincent, glaring at him in his haunting crimson eyes. "Who the hell are you to talk anyway?! You was a Turk! Y'all barbaric mindless killers!"

"Actually, it's quite the opposite," Vincent spoke as calmly as ever, despite the fact that Barret was standing so close and glaring him down. "Turks must go about their mission carefully and delicately. We would plan days in advance and prepare for any possible outcome, if we were to succeed."

Barret looked like he was about to scream back, but he couldn't think of anything, so instead he walked off and growled, once again shaking his fist in rage. Barret then turned back and aimed his gun arm at Vincent, although the former Turk didn't even twitch. "I oughta take ya out right now!" Barret harshly growled.

"Barret wait!" Tifa exclaimed, jumping between the two and eyeing Barret. "Calm down for a minute. Let's just go up the mountain and if they try anything we'll take care of them, alright?"

"Yeah, _fine_!" Barret growled, and angrily crossed his arms over his chest. Vincent, though he didn't laugh, found this quite amusing: a full grown man pouting because he didn't get his way, much like a child would. Barret then swung around and pointed an accusing finger at Vincent, "You jus be careful, ya damn Turk!"

Vincent didn't make any reaction to this except his steady glance at the large, ex-AVALANCHE leader. Cloud then led the group towards the mountains, who was walking side by side with Aeris, and then a little further behind, a fuming Barret, then Red XIII and Vincent, who walked next to each other silently, next were Tifa and Yuffie, both who talked about how angry Barret got, and finally Cait Sith, as he was usually the slowest.

The mountains stood with a brilliant, though extraordinarily odd, greenish-purple color across it due to the heavy amounts of mako that is imbedded into the mountain. Occasionally, these would make curious patterns across the walls and caverns of the mountain, most of the group would glance at these patterns in awe of how nature could make something so strange and oddly beautiful. Vincent would notice these, and though he too was surprised, he would show little to no interest on his face.

Tifa noticed this, how this man, though he did look at these with the rest of the group and should be amazed by it, but the gunslinger showed so little interest. It made her wonder just what had happened to this poor man, what did he sleep in a coffin to atone for, how did he know anything about Sephiroth, why did he become a Turk? All these questions, and several others, came to Tifa's mind about this mysterious man, however, the one she wanted to know the most is what had happened to him? What could possibly have made him lose all his emotions?

Tifa, however, chose to ignore these questions for now, and instead she had to lead the group through the mountains, as she could still remember (though occasionally she would forget the way and the group would have to guess which way to go) and the rest of the group knew little to nothing about the mountain. Occasionally, they would encounter a beast, however, Barret would usually destroy it first, destroying the beast as well as his pent up rage towards the newest member.

The mountain wasn't too hard to climb through, though occasionally there was a tough spot that Red XIII and Aeris would have a little trouble climbing through, Red XIII because of his structure and Aeris because she wasn't nearly as strong as the others. Some thought, specifically Barret, that Vincent would have a very hard time climbing through one spot. The spot was a twenty foot climb, though there were jagged parts that allowed them to climb up it, this was one of the places where Aeris and Red XIII had a hard time climbing it.

"That vamp ain't gonna be able ta climb dis," Barret said once he had reached the top and caught his breath. "He's too weak."

Tifa was a little angry at Barret for this, as well as most of the other members of the group but Barret did have a good argument. He was inside the coffin for god knows how long and didn't look like he had very strong, though that may have been because of his thin structure. However, Vincent surprised all of them by jumping up the wall with the ease as if it were no more than a one foot jump.

Even more shocking was that, in his arms, as though he was some hero from a fairy tale, was Aeris and Red XIII. Both of them looked extremely frightened and the minute Vincent let go of them, they both stepped back closer to the group, frightened by both his amazing strength and the fact that he did carry them up with, the group assumed correctly, no previous notice.

Vincent observed their frightened glances and apologized, "I'm… sorry… I simply thought it would be easier for the two of you-"

"It's fine, Vincent," Aeris said with a smile, although the shock was still very clear on her face. "I just didn't expect it…"

After that, Barret silently muttered something, while Tifa and Cloud, both of whom were growing slightly fond of Vincent for always proving Barret wrong, gleefully grinned for Vincent, who stood there, seeming completely aloof of all that was happening. Barret angrily marched forth, while the rest of the group stayed put and grinned at Vincent, who showed no pride for what he had done, for none of them had ever been able to make Barret appear to be such a fool, not only had he proved Barret wrong by making it up the wall, he jumped it _and_ jumped it with two people in his arms. After about a minute, Barret stormed back and shouted for them all to hurry up, and that time they did.

Soon they came to a spot that had one ledge below it, and a good landing even further down. It was dark, they had been traveling for the past three or four hours, and all of them, especially Barret and Aeris, Barret since he had to carry around so much weight and Aeris because she was weaker than the rest of the team, were tired. "I think the exit's down there…" Tifa stated, pointing to the landing two floors down.

"How do we get down there?" Barret asked, somehow managing to calm his heavy breathing for the moment.

"There are chutes here," Vincent announced, his crimson eyes piercing through the darkness. "I'm certain one of them will lead down there…"

"It's too dark to work!" Yuffie whined, she too had been tired, she had speed that could only be described as amazing but her endurance wasn't as good as she would like it to be. "I say we camp here!"

"At night, more beasts come out," Tifa told them. "It wouldn't be too smart to stay here for too long."

"Hmm…" Cloud muttered, pondering on the situation. "I… think we should stay here for the night… If we screw up and lose someone, I doubt we'll be able to find them very well…"

"I think we should stay here," Aeris voiced her opinion. "We'll just keep a few people on guard, instead of just one."

"Yeah," Cloud hastily agreed with the ancient, smiling fondly back at her.

"It would be safer to work in the light," Red XIII told them. "I say we stay and, like Aeris said, keep some people on guard at a time."

"Well, I guess we're sleeping here!" Cait Sith cried, dropping the large backpack from his back.

"Yeah, all right," Barret sighed and took the large backpack off his back with a groan of relief. "Now les set up the tents…"

It turned out that there was one tent that was attached to Barret's backpack and another that was attached to Cait Sith's backpack. Vincent quickly discovered that Barret's was the men's tent, which seemed that it could comfortably fit three people though it could fit four, and Cait Sith's, which was just slightly smaller and could comfortably fit three, though Vincent couldn't imagine fitting another inside. The girl's tent, Vincent keenly noticed, was set quite a ways away from the boy's tent, just barely within hearing range, but he thought little of it.

While this they set up the tents, Cloud and Cait Sith had left and now returned with fire, then Cloud began setting them up into a small structure that almost resembled a miniaturized cabin. Aeris playfully helped Cloud with this, and Tifa frowned as she saw how happy they both seemed and Vincent noticed her frown, though said nothing. Barret then collapsed in front of the small structure once it was completed, and Aeris cast a Fire spell on it, making it nearly explode in flames.

"Now who's keepin' watch?" Barret asked.

"I can stay up," Vincent told the group. They all looked over at him curiously, which didn't surprise the gunslinger at all. He had just joined and he knew how strange he must seem to them all, plus he hadn't done much to make them trust him. "I… am not tired…"

"Well now we _definitely_ need someone else up!" Barret exclaimed.

"I'll also stay up first," Red XIII said, ignoring Barret's spiteful comment. "I'm not too tired…"

"We'll do the normal schedule then," Cloud told the group, then turned to Vincent to explain. "We each take three hour shifts, and there are three shifts, so everyone gets at least six hours sleep."

"I believe I can stay up all night," Vincent told them, only to receive more curious looks. "I… don't need much sleep…"

No one said anything in response to Vincent. They seemed to give up on questioning him about his past, they had tried throughout their journey up the mountain, however, he seemed very content with keeping his past to himself.

"I'll stay up next," Tifa suddenly spoke, breaking the awkward silence, despite the fact that it didn't seem at all awkward to Vincent. "I haven't taken a shift in a while…"

"All right," Cloud nodded. "Who wants to go next?"

"I will," Barret announced, glaring at Vincent. "I'll make _sure_ he ain't betrayin' us…"

Vincent simply shrugged, which silently surprised the group as he usually didn't respond to Barret's comments at all. "Ok, good," Cloud nodded, then addressed Vincent. "And if you get tired in the night, you can wake me up, all right?" Vincent slightly nodded, in fact if you weren't expecting a response from him you probably wouldn't notice it, which caused Cloud to nod back and stand. "Well, everyone get to bed, except you two."

"Aw _fine_!" Yuffie whined, which was expected from the group, as she always wanted to stay up later when there wasn't work to be done, despite the fact that she earlier wanted to stop and rest.

The team then dispersed to their own tents, and after about five minutes, the boy's tent was completely silent, the girl's tent, however, not only had lights beaming out of it, but also they could hear faint talking come from the tent.

Red XIII silently sat, he, much like Vincent, hadn't moved since the group had gone to sleep. They were both silent, and were, in fact, silent during the majority of Red XIII's period of guarding, however, there almost seemed to be a silent conversation. They both seemed to be looking over the other, like one would to one who was talking, however, neither said much.

Vincent then turned his gaze to the girl's tent, from which an outburst of giggles emerged from, and asked, "Do they do this every night?"

"Usually," Red XIII sighed. "We tell them that they shouldn't, but they keep on doing it…"

Unknown to anyone, Vincent's keen ears could hear everything that was coming from the tent.

* * *

Yuffie finally stopped giggling at Aeris's joke about Barret's anger and said, "But Vincent's all like… quiet…"

"The total opposite of _Barret_," Aeris added while rolling her eyes, causing Yuffie to giggle a little.

"I think it was funny how Vincent keeps proving Barret wrong, and then Barret would always just grumble off," Tifa told them with a wide grin.

"Yeah…" Aeris nodded. "And he's a lot stronger than he looks…"

"Yeah," Yuffie nodded, then giggled upon thinking of what to say next. "He looks like he could be a model for 'Goth Magazine.'"

Another outburst of giggles from the girls. However, though they didn't comment anything, they thought it was quite true. He was surprisingly handsome, despite his exceptionally dark exterior and his frightening claw.

Aeris, however, being more outwardly than the other girls, said what she thought, "Yeah… he is cute…"

Yuffie had more giggles, it almost seemed like the young ninja would giggle at just about anything, and Tifa nodded with only a few giggles, she thought it was quite true. Outside the tent, Vincent heard this, which almost brought a grin to his face on remembering how women would try to meet him so long ago.

"Well, I guess he is a _little_ cute…" Yuffie slightly giggled and deeply blushed. In fact, though she wouldn't admit this, even amongst Tifa and Aeris, was getting a small crush on Vincent. He was certainly strong and… cute.

"Yeah," Tifa nodded after a little giggling. "But he's so quiet…"

"Yeah," Aeris agreed. "And he was in a coffin… I wonder what happened to him…"

"Yeah, and I wonder how old he is," Yuffie added with a blush.

Aeris widely grinned at this and gazed at the young ninja with broad green eyes, but then turned to Tifa, "Sounds like our little Yuffie has a crush!"

Tifa playfully giggled and turned to Yuffie, whose face now seemed painted red. Yuffie then shot her head up and cried, "I don't have a crush on Vincent!"

"Sure, Yuffie…" Aeris playfully replied and then jokingly rolled her eyes with Tifa.

"Oh shut up!" Yuffie cried though she was still blushing like mad, then lied down in her sleeping bag. "I'm going to bed!"

"Yeah, we should go to sleep Aeris," Tifa told Aeris, then giggled a little. "We should let Yuffie dream of _Vincent_!"

Yuffie grumbled something and then covered her burning red face with her sleeping bag. The two girls, after another joke or two on Yuffie's expense, lied down and their thoughts drifted to their dreams, but Tifa's thoughts stayed on Vincent.

* * *

"Tifa…" a soft, calm voice called the young woman. She rolled over and covered the sleeping bag over her face. "Tifa… wake up…"

This time she turned back and slowly opened her eyes, and saw two crimson red orbs looking at her. Her first impulse was to run, however, she was far too frightened to do anything, fortunately that gave her time to realize who it was. "Oh… Vincent…" she murmured tiredly as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she saw him quickly put a finger over his closed lips, indicating that she should be silent.

She nodded, realizing that it meant that she had to go on her guard service, and so she quietly stood, and stepped outside of the tent, following Vincent to the fire. She sat down on the ground, while Vincent leaned up against the wall of the small cave they were inside. For the first few moments, she was in a struggle to keep awake, but that shortly faded, especially when since a Nibel Wolf ventured a little to close to the camp then was comfortable.

Vincent instantly sprung into action, he leapt at the wolf, and grasped its neck with his claw hand, and lifted him about a foot off the ground. Vincent tightened his grip on the things neck, and Tifa could see, though it was a challenge because of the little light that reached all the way to Vincent, blood sliding down his claw from the wolf's neck. Once the beast stopped struggling, Vincent tossed its body a ways away with the simplest of ease, then walked back to his original spot.

Once back, he seemed to ignore the surprised gaze coming from Tifa, who, in that time, finally managed to put on her metal knuckles, and took his water bottle, and sprayed water across his claw, causing the blood to drip to the floor with the water. He then returned to his spot, leaning against the wall and looking into the fire.

"I… I thought you used a gun," Tifa told him, remembering the only time he had used it, back inside the mansion, when he had shot a bat that was behind them.

"I do," Vincent simply answered. "However, that would be too loud, and would wake the others."

"Oh, right," Tifa nodded, feeling somewhat foolish for not realizing that. She then looked down at the fire, however didn't like the silence, she never really did like silence, and she felt she had to say something. "So… umm… why aren't you sleeping?"

"I've been asleep for the past thirty years," Vincent told her. "I won't sleep for some time, I'd assume."

"Thirty years?!" Tifa cried, amazed at what the mysterious man had just informed her. "But you don't even _look_ thirty!"

"…" Vincent was silent, and Tifa knew why. He doesn't share things from the past, and whatever that had to do with anything, it must have been one of the things he didn't want to talk about.

"Can I ask you a question?" Tifa asked softly. "But if you don't want me to its alright…"

"Feel free," he patiently told her.

"…" she was hesitant for a moment, wondering if he would even answer her question, but then decided to, if he doesn't answer, it won't matter, and if he does, well, she would learn something new about him. "Why did you go into the coffin?"

"To atone," Vincent simply said, keeping his eyes fixed on the fire. In all honesty, Tifa was actually surprised that he had answered, since earlier when they asked him questions like that, he wouldn't reply at all. Of course, thinking back, she remembered him stating that earlier, which was probably the only reason he decided to answer.

"To atone for what?" Tifa asked, hoping that she could learn more about this very mysterious figure.

"…" Vincent was silent for a moment, then moved his crimson eyes up to Tifa's honey brown ones. He paused; to an outsider it would seem like he was considering if he should continue, but for Tifa it seemed like he was looking through her soul. "To atone for sitting by and doing nothing… I lost the one I love, because I was too foolish… too hesitant…"

Tifa nodded, though kept eye contact. It almost seemed impossible to take her eyes off his, however, he then easily took his eyes off her, and returned them to the fire. She then looked at the fire and silently, so silently she barely heard herself say it, "Just like me…"

"You and Cloud?" Vincent asked as if it were common knowledge. Not only was Tifa surprised that he had heard her, but she was also surprised that he knew about her and Cloud. She never remembered saying anything that might make someone think that she had any interest in Cloud, at least not while he was around.

"Y-Yeah…" Tifa muttered, almost frighteningly. "How did you know?"

"You always frowned when he and Aeris were together," Vincent simply answered. "You make it fairly obvious to the keen observer."

Tifa slightly blushed, but instead of looking down and hiding it from the man, she looked up and smiled at him. She doubted that, even if she did try to hide it, he wouldn't have seen it. He returned her gaze, but said nothing.

"What do you think I should do?" Tifa hesitantly asked. She wondered if she should have asked him, since he was a new member and not necessarily trustworthy yet, but he seemed trustworthy enough, and she doubted he would share this conversation with anyone anyway.

"Tell him," Vincent answered simply, then turned his gaze to the fire. It seemed that inside those crimson eyes millions of memories were flashing by, allowing (or maybe forcing) Vincent to remember them. "I did nothing… and I lost her… I nearly lost myself…"

"Vincent…" Tifa silently whispered. She suddenly realized that he blamed himself for what happened before he went into the coffin to atone. She finally realized that whatever had happened was, in his perspective, all put on his chest, it was entirely his fault, or so he thought. Tifa, not knowing what happened, couldn't make any comment that would offer in comfort. "I… I'm sorry…"

"Don't do what I did, Tifa," Vincent told her softly, turning his gaze back to the young woman. "Don't hesitate… just do it. Tell him what you believe…"

"Thank you, Vincent," Tifa smiled up at the mysterious man, however, he simply returned his gaze to the fire, and that was where his gaze remained in the silent remainder of Tifa's time as guard while Tifa thought of how to tell Cloud that she loved him.

* * *

I'm not very happy with this chapter and I'm sorry if I was a little harsh with Barret, but he was like that with Cloud back at the beginning of the game, so I figured it would fit.

Also, if you didn't notice, I'm not that great with the girl talk, but I decided to let it slide. I'm a guy after all so you can't expect me to be great with that yet.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	3. A Very Unique Gunslinger

By the way, I should mention that I'm going to make some changes to the story, not now so much but later on.

Also, thanks for the reviews guys! Keep em!

Chapter Three: A Very Unique Gunslinger

* * *

In the morning, the group glanced over the cave, curious of how to get down to the bottom platform. Vincent, who hadn't gotten any sleep that night, was correct, there were chutes, all leading down to a different areas of different levels. Eventually, they managed to find a way down, but not before finding a Sniper CR for Vincent, which he uses as a secondary weapon, he still kept his Quicksilver revolver as his main. Vincent attached the weapon on his back, with his cape covering it, however, if the cape weren't there, it would be attached much like Cloud's blade. 

"'Ere's the right chute!" Barret exclaimed, pointing at one chute.

"How do you know that's the right one?" Aeris patiently asked.

"It's da only one we didn't try yet," Barret told them, seeming frustrated that he was questioned at all.

"All right, let's go," Cloud announced to the group, going up next to the chute.

"Be careful once you reach the bottom," Vincent told them in his usual manner. "There is a beast below."

"What?" Cloud asked, squinting down to the bottom to struggle to see what was below. "I… think I see something…"

"What is he talkin' 'bout?!" Barret angrily growled. "I don't see nothin'! It's too far down!"

"I don't see anything either…" Aeris murmured.

"I think I see something," Red XIII told them, squinting down to the bottom.

"I don't see anything!" Yuffie whined.

"Neither do I…" Tifa muttered, struggling to see what was below.

"Perhaps it is just our mako eyes, but there is a beast down there," Vincent told the group. "I suggest you stay careful, I am unsure of how powerful it is."

"Right," Cloud nodded as he jumped through the chute, and was followed by Aeris, Yuffie, Tifa, Red XIII, Vincent, and finally Barret.

They landed only a little ways away from the large beast, and were happily surprised that it didn't attack. Instead, the red beast stayed in its spot, unfortunately blocking the exit and watched the visitors carefully. The beast stood much taller than anyone in the group, standing on six long, thin legs, three on both sides of its body. Its body was thin and red, like the legs, connected up to its thin neck, and head. The head almost seemed to be the largest part of the beast, with a jaw full of sharp, jagged teeth, and fierce black eyes glaring at the team.

"This is the beast?" Barret cockily asked, which seemed, though Barret didn't notice it, to attract a more violent side of the beast. "He ain't nothin' we-"

Barret was forced to stop his sentence there, as the beast hit the large man's stomach with one of its legs. Barret stumbled backward until he hit the ground, then, after omitting a fury of curses, bombarded the beast with bullets. However, this seemed to affect the beast very slightly, and instead it summoned a strange, large, almost transparent triangle in front of Barret, which made the man cry in pain and anger.

"Someone cast a cure!" Barret bellowed.

Aeris quickly began her spell, amazing Vincent by making her staff float in front of her, and the man's wounds suddenly healed slightly. He then struggled to stand again, but the beast prepared for another strike with its legs. This time, however, it didn't make it. Cloud leapt in front of Barret with large sword drawn, and slashed the thin leg, forcing a small flow of blood to omit from a newly formed wound, which made the beast recoil its leg.

Tifa then took this opportunity to rush up to the beast, then leaped up, and slam her fists into the beast's face. The beast, however, quickly slapped her with another one of its legs, making her land on her back next to Cloud. Aeris quickly rushed over to help Tifa up and cast a quick cure on her, while Yuffie and Red XIII seized this opportunity to strike the beast.

The way it was done, it seemed that they had planned this earlier. Yuffie rushed up to the beast, just out of its range of attack, and hurled her boomerang at the beast, slashing it across its face, and then as the beast was about to rush up and strike Yuffie, Red XIII quickly summoned a lightning bolt to strike its body, making it reconsider its charge. Instead, the beast used another one of its triangle attacks on Yuffie, making her fall back in pain, who was healed by Aeris.

"Cloud," Vincent said as he took out his Sniper CR. "Go attack the beast, I'll cover you."

Cloud quickly nodded, and then rushed up to the beast, leaping up, and slashing the beast's skull, making more blood flow from the beast. While Cloud did this, Vincent very quickly aimed at the beast with his Sniper CR. Once Cloud had landed, Vincent opened fire, blasting away at the point where its legs meet its body. This caused the beast to stumble down to the ground, an opportunity that was quickly taken by Cloud and Red XIII; Cloud slashing the beast with his sword once again and Red XIII using an ice spell.

"His armor is too thick," Red XIII announced to the group once Cloud had retreated back to a safe distance and the beast had stood up once again. "Our attacks aren't strong enough!"

"DAMN!" Barret bellowed, raising his gun-arm at the beast. "I'm takin' this bastard down!"

Barret opened fire on the beast, an act thought as foolish among the rest of the group. Not surprisingly, the attack didn't seem to do much damage, and instead angered the beast into using another triangle attack. Aeris, once again, used a cure spell on Barret.

"Well we can't jes sit 'ere!" Barret shouted at the rest of the group. "We have ta keep fightin'!"

"We will defeat him," Red XIII told the group. "It will just take longer than most beasts."

Vincent shook his head with calm defiance. "Hold this," Vincent told Tifa, handing her his Quicksilver revolver and Sniper CR. "Now everyone back away as far as you can."

"What are you going to do?" Tifa asked with curiosity.

"If you aren't careful, you'll find out first hand," Vincent told them, taking a step closer to the gigantic monster. "Now hide."

"What are you gonna-" Cloud began, but was cut off.

"Hurry!" Vincent commanded, the voice was so demanding that the group couldn't help but instantly obey.

They all rushed behind a very large rock that was just a little ways away from the battleground, but they were all peaking their head over to see what the ex-Turk was going to do. Vincent took another step closer and then began to flex his muscles and strain his mind on his task. He despised doing this, but it seemed to be the only thing he could do now.

His muscles, surprising the entire group, seemed to form over his clothing, and had large veins pulsing so much beneath the skin that it looked like they were about to pop. Vincent bellowed in agony as his skin turned into a dark purple and began to be covered in fur, a scene that made Aeris and Yuffie cover their heads behind the rock in fear and nearly throw up. Vincent roared again as his jaw began to jut outwards into a snout, and his black hair turn into a thick red mane, with two large, black horns jutting out where his temples would be. Both his hands transformed into claws with fur that matched the rest of his body, and his feet into large beast feet that nearly seemed to match his claws.

Everyone stood in silent horror at the monster that Vincent had become.

This monster charged at the six-legged beast and tackled it to the ground. The Vincent-monster roared as he clawed and bit upon the beast that blocked the group's way. It was almost frightening how well and easy he had been able to strike the beast, his claws cutting right through the beast's defenses, which had halted the rest of the group. Soon enough, the beast laid slain where it once stood, and the Vincent-monster continued to claw and gnaw at it's now separated body parts.

"Wh-what do we do…?" Tifa very silently asked, though astonishing herself by being able to talk after such a horrific sight.

The Vincent-monster then seemed to hear this, and quickly spun around, glaring at the group. Just as it seemed like he was about to charge, it suddenly began to slowly shrink, it's muscles descending, it snout retreating, and it's horns shrinking. The fur then quickly vanished to reveal a purple tinted skin, which then changed to Vincent's usual pale color, and shortly after, Vincent stood there.

It seemed like he was struggling to stay conscious with only his right eye just barely open, but before the group had a chance to fully look over him, he stumbled to the ground. Tifa surprised herself as being the first to act, she rushed up to the scene and spun him on his back, looking for any signs of life. She didn't think he would be dead, but she had no idea as to what he had just done, and what the consequences may be.

"Is he… alright?" Cloud asked as Tifa checked his pulse.

"Yes…" Tifa sighed in relief. "But his heartbeat is very fast…" she then moved her hand to his forehead, "And he's burning up…"

"Shit…" Cloud murmured as the rest of the group ventured over to Vincent. Cloud then looked up at Aeris, who was looking down at Vincent in amazement, and told her, "Use a cure on him, it might help him."

Aeris nodded and instantly obeyed, trying to help their comrade. Tifa felt Vincent's forehead again, and sighed, nodding to the group, "It helped a little… I think we should quickly bring him to the next town, though."

"How we gonna carry 'im?" Barret rudely asked.

"I can carry him," Cloud sighed, as he wrapped his arms under Vincent's frail-seeming body.

However, Vincent's eyes suddenly flashed opened, that made the entire group jump back, except for Cloud, because Vincent's claws were tightly wrapped around his wrist, making Cloud utter a quick grunt before he realized it was the ex-Turk. Vincent, realizing it was Cloud, released his tight grasp and then slowly spoke, "I thought I told you all to get away…"

"Well, we did, we hid behind that huge rock," Cloud told the man, pointing to the large rock that they hid behind.

Vincent, however, didn't bother to look where the ex-SOLDIER pointed, and instead kept his heavy glance on Cloud, causing a very uncomfortable silence between the two, however, Barret then broke that silence, "What da _hell_ was dat?! You turned into a damn _monster_!"

Vincent's gaze then angrily turned to Barret, but then down on the ground as he stood up. The gunslinger looked down at the ground, thinking of what to say. He knew that if he said too much, he would need to explain it all, and he had no intention of doing that, it's far too painful, despite the fact that he goes over it countless times a day in his head. Vincent then spoke, choosing his words very carefully, "It's… one of the things that happened to me… so long ago…"

"You better start explainin' all this crazy shit!" Barret shouted to the stoic gunslinger. "It's gettin' too damn freaky! You turned into a damn _monster_!"

"…" Vincent was silent, only continuing to look down at the ground.

"Barret! Calm down!" Tifa shouted, standing between Barret and the ex-Turk. "He'll tell us when he's ready," Tifa told him, then glanced at Vincent, then back at Barret, "Besides, I think he proved himself trustworthy…"

"What are ya talkin' 'bout, Tifa?!" Barret cried. "He turned into a damn _monster_?! He's a _monster_!"

"Listen," Vincent said as he stood. "If you want me to leave the group, that's fine, I don't care. Just say the word, and I shall leave."

"Aight, then go!" Barret bellowed at the man without a second's hesitation. "Unless you start explainin' what's up wit you, we're leavin' ya behind!"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Tifa cried. "He should be able to stay! He just saved us!"

"Yeah, relax Barret!" Aeris shouted to the large, generally stubborn man. "He just saved your life! You should be thanking him!"

"You tellin' me that you're gonna trust someone who jus' turned into a damn _monster_?!" Barret bellowed at the two women who were defending the accused. They were both silent and looked down at the ground; as much as they both hated to admit it, Barret had a very good point, how could they trust someone who they know very little about _and_ just turned into a beast? But this was Vincent, Vincent who helped Tifa the previous night (though she hadn't followed through with his advice), this was Vincent who helped both Aeris and Red XIII climb up the mountain occasionally, and, most of all, this was Vincent who just saved all their lives, despite the methods of doing so.

"I shall leave," Vincent suddenly announced the group, and began heading out of the mountain, when Tifa finally spoke.

"No… don't leave," Tifa looked up at Vincent, who also turned to look at her, their eyes locking for only a minute, and then Tifa turned to Barret. "Yes, I think we can trust him. You just saw the power that he had, if he wanted to stop us, he easily could have killed us by now if he wanted to. So, I say he stays here…"

"You gotta be kidin'!" Barret bellowed, not believing the words that the barmaid had spoken. "Ya jus gotta!"

"No, Barret, I agree with Tifa," Cloud said, stepping into the conversation. "He should stay with us, he _did_ just save us, and we need all the help we can get."

"Yeah," Cait Sith said. "He should stay with us, the more the merrier."

"Aww fine!" Barret angrily bellowed, stomping his feet like a child. "Do whatever da hell ya want! Just don't blame me when da damn _monster_ betrays us!"

"Whatever," Cloud said, then turning to the exit that was now covered in blood from Vincent's vicious attack. "Let's get outta here."

"Fine," Barret grumbled; he and the others following Cloud through the blood that was smeared across the ground.

Once they were out of the mountains, they found themselves in a very large plain, with some mountains still to their side, but with no town in sight. "Where's the next town, Cloud?" Red XIII asked as the team looked across the plains, trying to find anything besides the healthy green grass and tall spiked mountains.

"Let's see here…" Cloud muttered, turning his gaze to a map that he pulled out of his pocket. "There's a town just around these mountains… It's called Rocket Town…"

"Rocket Town, huh?" Cait Sith asked. "That must be where the Shinra rocket was built…"

"Shinra rocket?!" Barret exclaimed. "Les hope the president's there…" Barret smirked as he looked at his gun-arm, "I have a lil' present to give to 'im…"

"You mean the rocket that was supposed to go into space?" Tifa asked, ignoring Barret's comment.

"I think so," Cait Sith nodded on top of his mechanical, oversized moogle.

"We should probably be careful, then," Cloud announced to the group. "If that town still has any ties with Shinra, there might be some people who want to capture us."

"If they want us, I suggest that we rest before entering the town," Vincent told the group. "If we spend the night there, they may try to capture us in our sleep."

"Good idea," Cloud nodded to the mysterious man while Barret angrily crossed his arms. "We should still travel until we get pretty close… although I don't think it'll take the full day to get there."

Vincent slightly nodded, and then Yuffie whined, "I'm _bored_! Let's go all ready!"

"Yeah, all right," Cloud nodded, and then led the group through the plain.

* * *

They traveled for a few more hours, until roughly noon, when Yuffie finally cried, "Cloud! I'm hungry!" 

Cloud looked back at the young ninja, then over the rest of the group. "All right," Cloud shrugged. "Do you guys want to stop now?"

"Yeah!" Yuffie exclaimed with most of the others nodding in agreement.

The team all took off the equipment that they were holding and began doing various things. Tifa and Aeris were digging through bags for food to cook, Yuffie, Cloud, Barret, and Cait Sith were searching for some wood to make a fire, while Red XIII walked a little ways away from the camp, seeming to be on guard. Vincent, unsure of what the group usually did during their breaks, walked over to the strange creature who was on guard.

"Nanaki," Vincent started, choosing to use the creature's true name versus the one Hojo had dubbed him. "Are we just stopping for lunch?"

"Yes," the creature replied as he turned towards him. "Well, we break for about an hour or so. Some of us go off to train against monsters, but usually we stay around here."

"I see…" Vincent murmured, then stood there and mused for a moment, thinking about which he would do, but knowing the obvious choice. He had no desire to eat, hunger seems to have left him during his thirty years of rest, so he would go out to train with whomever would join him.

Once everyone had returned to their temporary camp, Yuffie began to build a small fireplace, and the others seemed to begin to separate. "Anyone up for some training?" Tifa asked, stretching out her arms. She wasn't surprised by the lack of a response from the rest of the group, since the previous day they were climbing Mt. Nibel, and that can be a hassle for anyone. But she had done it nearly every day back when she was living in Nibelheim, so she still had some energy. "Anyone?"

"I believe I'm up for it," Vincent announced.

"Alright," Tifa smiled to him, then looked over the rest of the group. "That it?"

When no one replied, the two were beginning to leave the group, when Barret took Tifa aside and said, "Be sure to watch yo' back, Tif."

Tifa smiled at Barret, although she was slightly angry at the man for still not trusting Vincent, she understood. She knew that it would be tough for Barret, who had lost his whole town to misplacing trust, to trust anyone. Plus, she knew Barret was just looking out for her. Ever since they met, Barret had been like an older brother to Tifa, and their journey didn't change that.

"Thanks, Barret," Tifa told him. "But I'll be fine."

* * *

The two backtracked slightly towards the mountains. Vincent kept looking towards the mountains, oddly feeling almost as though something was calling to him. He couldn't help himself from thinking of Lucrecia then, although he didn't know why… of course, these days, Lucrecia almost always plagued his mind. 

"Here come two!" Tifa shouted, quickly getting into a fighting position. Vincent quickly drew his quicksilver and aimed at the first of the two nibel wolves. They were weak creatures, so Vincent figured he would be able to take care of them without his gun, so he put it back, deciding to fight with his claw instead.

While a Turk, he was taught to be prepared to fight no matter what weapon was available to you. And one weapon that will almost always be available are your fists, so martial arts were taught heavily to the Turks, even to those who chose not to master in it. Vincent was a great martial artist and, for some time, considered mastering in it, but ultimately decided to choose his gun.

Tifa ran up and decided to take the first one. Since these were weak creatures and the party wasn't hurrying anywhere, she decided that she would test out all her skills. She quickly punched the wolf on its nose, causing it to leap at her to try for a counterstrike, but she gracefully stepped aside before the wolf could correct itself, dodging the attack.

The beast angrily spun around, growling at Tifa, leaping at her for another strike. This time, Tifa decided she would test out her defenses against the wolf. As it leapt, she quickly blocked the attack by covering herself with her left arm. The wolf grabbed ahold of her wrist with its sharp teeth, then Tifa smashed down on its skull with a powerful punch with her right hand.

The wolf released its grasp and whimpered, stepping away from the martial artist. Tifa then leapt after the beast, kicking it square in the neck, causing a quick snap and the wolf's body to fall to the ground, where it twitched once and didn't move again. Tifa looked over at Vincent and saw that he was done as well, so they started seeking more opponents.

As they walked, Vincent surprised Tifa by saying, "I would like to thank you, Tifa."

"Wh-what?" Tifa asked, completely surprised by the usual completely silent Vincent and looked over at him. "Why?"

"Back at Mt. Nibel, when you defended me," Vincent sincerely told her. It was hard for him to say his thanks, but he knew when it was due and the young barmaid did deserve it. It felt good to feel accepted to the group and that feeling was mostly due to Tifa's kind words. "For that, I thank you."

"Oh… it was no problem, Vincent," Tifa sweetly smiled at him. "It's just that Barret can be pretty stubborn sometimes…"

"I've noticed," Vincent commented, which made Tifa chuckle a little. "Of course… I can't blame him."

"Hmm?" Tifa asked. "What do you mean?"

"My… transformation," Vincent told her. To Tifa, it seemed like he was trying to find the right words, so that he wouldn't share anything with her that he didn't want to.

"Oh nonsense," Tifa told him, waving her hand dismissively. "We all know that Hojo did really bad things to you… We understand, especially Red XIII, he was experimented on too."

"I know," Vincent calmly told her with a slight nod.

"It's just that Barret can seem a lot meaner than he actually is," Tifa sighed, she had known Barret for almost four years, and he never seemed to change much, he always seemed to be the same, stubborn Barret. "And… he doesn't use the best words either… Like when he called you a monster."

"How is that not the right word?" Vincent patiently asked, eying her curiously.

Tifa looked up at him, shocked and confused, how could it be the right word? "You aren't a monster, Vincent," Tifa smiled at him, though she still seemed confused by his question. "You saved our lives back there, and you helped me last night with your advice… You aren't a monster, Vincent."

"…" Vincent was silent, looking into the beautiful woman's honey brown eyes, as if looking for any sincerity in her words. Tifa, of course, was telling the truth, as far as her knowledge of him extended to at least. She didn't understand what Vincent wanted and then it popped into her head.

"Do… do you think you're a monster, Vincent?" Tifa asked, looking deep into his crimson eyes.

"…" Vincent then turned his glance to the ground. "I… I was a Turk, I killed people recklessly, simply because I was ordered to… I lost the woman I loved because I didn't do anything… I… I am a monster…"

Tifa took a step back, frightened by what the man had said. _He honestly believes he's a monster_? Tifa thought.

"How can you say that?" Tifa slightly sternly asked, making Vincent's gaze return to her eyes. "You saved our lives, Vincent. You're no monster, you're a _savior_."

"One good deed does not make up for a lifetime of sins," Vincent told her, straightly and sincerely. The seriousness in his voice almost frightened Tifa, but at the same time it made her furious at Hojo or whoever it was that made Vincent believe that he was a monster.

"Vincent…" Tifa whispered, praying that he didn't honestly believe the words he had told her.

"We should head back," Vincent told her, turning his gaze away from her.

"… Right," Tifa nodded, defeated in her attempt to find out more about Vincent and to convince him he's not a monster.

* * *

They traveled for about another five hours before they could see a very small town with a large, tilted rocket behind it. "That must be Rocket Town," Cloud told the group. "I'll go in and get some supplies, how about you come with Aeris?" 

"Alright," Aeris smiled happily as she walked to his side.

Cloud nodded. "You guys stay here, we'll be back pretty soon."

"Alright," Red XIII nodded as the two separated from the team and headed towards the town.

"Be careful," Barret warned, causing Cloud and Aeris to turn back at him. "Don't want the Shinra figurin' out we're here."

"We will be," Cloud said as the two continued their walk to the not too distant town.

"We might as well set up camp now," Cait Sith shrugged, taking off the backpack.

Tifa, Yuffie, and Red XIII decided to go look for some firewood once night came around, while Vincent, Barret, and Cait Sith stayed back to set up the camp. It didn't take long for the trio to come back with firewood, and just after they had built the fire, Cloud and Aeris returned with the supplies, which the put away in the backpacks.

"I'm _hungry_!" Yuffie whined.

"Same 'ere!" Barret exclaimed, then turned to Tifa. "Why don't you make us somethin' Tifa?"

"Yeah!" Yuffie exclaimed. "You're a really good cook!"

"Well, all right," Tifa sighed, then turning to Cloud, who sat next to Aeris. "Did you buy any food?"

"Yeah," Cloud nodded, putting down a bag near the fire. "It's in this one."

Tifa walked up and dug through the bag, eventually finding some canned beans and other canned foods, which was usually what they ate. Tifa heated up the cans for everyone and distributed one to every person.

Every quickly chowed down their food, Vincent, however, was an exception, he hadn't touched any of his food, and once Barret had reached for Vincent's can, which was sitting uselessly in front of the gunslinger, Tifa shouted, "Barret! Let Vincent eat his own food!"

"It's quite all right," Vincent told her, his calm crimson eyes turning up to her. "I am not hungry."

"Why?" Tifa asked.

"Who cares?" Barret exclaimed, snatching Vincent's food, digging his spoon into it and taking a large bite. "More food fo' us!"

Vincent looked boringly around at the group, then glanced over at Rocket Town, with the large, awkward rocket raised tilted a little distance behind the town. At first Tifa pondered what he might be thinking about, but then she realized instantly. The rocket was a Shinra rocket, which probably reminded him of what happened, and just then she wondered if whatever had happened was always on his mind. She imagined that it was, at least most of the time.

Yuffie, having finished her meal, jumped up and took out her boomerang. "I'm _bored_!" she cried. "I'm gonna go train, anyone wanna come with me?"

"I'm wit you," Barret told her, slowly standing and wiping off the small pieces of the meal on his cheeks away with the back of his hand.

"No, it's too late to go now," Cloud announced to the two. "The beasts are much more common at night, especially out here in the wide open field. It's too risky for you guys to go out on your own."

"Oh come on!" Yuffie begged. "I'm so bored!"

"Sorry," Cloud told them, his decision, like usual, unchanged. "But we're staying put for the night."

"Oh _fine_!" Yuffie exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "Well what can we do then? I'm so bored!"

Vincent glanced at Yuffie with mild interest, however, for Vincent, this seemed to be the most interested he ever looked yet. Tifa thought she understood why he looked interested at the young ninja. It was because, Tifa assumed, the ninja was almost the complete opposite of the ex-turk; while she is very hyperactive, Vincent merely stands there, and probably watches the group with what seems like some humorous amusement. _Probably because we're all so weird_, Tifa thought playfully.

"It's getting pretty late, and we may have a large battle tomorrow," Red XIII announced. "I'm going to bed, I believe the rest of us should as well."

"Yeah," Cloud replied, standing up. "I think I'll take the first shift, anyone else want to do any shifts?"

"I'll take them all, if that's all right with the rest of you," Vincent told them. "I'm not tired."

"No way!" Barret bellowed. "There's no way I'm trustin' ya jes yet!"

"All right," Yuffie sighed, "I'll take the second shift then."

"I can take the last shift," Cait Sith told them.

"Ok good," Cloud said as the group all rose and left to their tents. "Night, guys."

After saying their goodnights to each other, Cloud sat down in front of the fire and gazed into it. "Whenever I look at fire," Cloud said quietly, Vincent was unsure if he was talking to himself or to Vincent. "I'm reminded of Nibelheim… what happened… what Sephiroth did…" Cloud paused for a moment, allowing a moment for his memories to catch up with him. "Sephiroth killed my mother… He killed everyone in town, and burnt down the town itself… I can never forgive him…" Cloud said, then turned to Vincent. "That's why I'm looking for Sephiroth… I have to avenge the people who he killed."

Vincent was completely still for a moment, then spoke silently and coldly, "You say Sephiroth did all this, and yet Nibelheim was unharmed when we were there… Also, you can't remember the end of your story. How are you so certain all of this happened?"

Cloud looked back at the fire, slightly angry. He was hoping by opening up to Vincent like that, that maybe he would open up to him a little. It was Aeris's idea and Cloud, though usually not a very open person, decided to try it if it meant learning more about Sephiroth. "I don't know what happened," Cloud looked coldly into the fire. "But I know at least that much… I know that Sephiroth burnt down the town."

"Sephiroth _is_ a Shinra creation," Vincent muttered. "I suppose it's likely that Shinra rebuilt the town identical to the way it was before, however, why wouldn't the mansion be on fire as well?"

"Sephiroth never struck the mansion," Cloud told Vincent, looking into the gunslinger's crimson eyes. "Sephiroth… is a man of knowledge… he always tries to find out what he can't understand, and he'd stop at nearly nothing to find out what he wanted to know."

"I see," Vincent said, sounding completely unsurprised, almost as if he all ready knew, or perhaps assumed, that.

"And for Sephiroth, everything he wants to know is in that mansion," Cloud continued, turning his gaze back to the fire. "I don't think he'd ever do anything to harm that mansion until he… completes his mission. I'll make sure that never happens."

Vincent slightly nodded, and then gazed into the fire as well.

Then Cloud tore his gaze away from the mesmerizing fire, and looked at Vincent. "Why… why are you hunting Sephiroth?" he asked hesitantly. Despite that fact that Vincent looks weak, Cloud was still, though he would never admit this to anyone, slightly frightened by him and his very unique hidden powers.

Vincent remained silent, and simply continued looking into the fire. Cloud gave up on asking, and the rest of the night was silent.

* * *

There's another chapter! 

PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	4. Cid the Pilot

Hey, thanks for reading another chapter.

Once you're finished with reading, it would be pretty awesome if you reviewed!

By the way, this chapter has some major changes from the game, but I'll explain more after you read.

Chapter Four: Cid the Pilot

* * *

The sun slowly rose up from behind the mountains that the group had just passed through. Vincent was sitting in front of the fireplace, which had been set ablaze the previous night, though he and Cait Sith had put it out once the sun was beginning to rise and they no longer needed it. For Vincent, most of the night was silent, he and Cloud talked very little, mostly only the short conversation they had once everyone had gone to sleep, and Yuffie sat silently, across from Vincent, who wasn't sure if she was frightened or shy around him. Either way, he was just thankful the usually energetic ninja was silent for a welcomed change. However, unfortunately for Vincent, Cait Sith was quite the talker. 

"So then the cougar says-" Cait Sith said, telling another one of his jokes to the very uninterested Vincent, who instead was glancing over at the girl's tent, noticing someone was beginning to stir. "-And the butcher killed the dog!" Cait Sith exclaimed laughing gaily as he finished while Vincent only kept his keen eyes on the girl's tent, guessing who it was.

_Tifa_, Vincent guessed, judging by the figure of the one who was now awake. He noticed that once he woke up his keen eyes and skills had only sharpened after the experiments Hojo had done on him. He wasn't very comfortable with that thought, knowing that Hojo can create such powerful monsters like himself, though he pushed the thought out of his mind for now. Then he noticed that she was changing, and, being a gentleman, he respectively looked away, and back at Cait Sith.

"Do ya get it Vinny?!" Cait Sith exclaimed, still hollering with laughter, making Vincent wonder how anyone could sleep with all his noise.

"Don't call me that," Vincent coldly and strictly told the odd creature.

"Uhh, s-sure," Cait Sith replied, his humor completely diminished.

"Good," Vincent softly muttered, and turned back to the girl's tent once he noticed Tifa stepping out of it.

"Good morning, Tifa!" Cait Sith exclaimed, his humor completely returned.

"Good morning," Tifa smiled, then looked at Vincent. "Good morning, Vincent. Did you get any sleep last night?"

"No," Vincent replied, seeming uninterested in the conversation.

"Well, tonight you're going to get some sleep," Tifa told him. "I hope we spend the night at an inn… I just can't wait to sleep in an actual bed again… and take a nice warm bath…"

Vincent nodded in understanding, though still completely sounding uncaring about what she was talking about. Tifa then sighed and sat down, thinking Vincent wouldn't say anything, however, then Vincent said, "Yes. You have been traveling for quite some time."

"Yeah," Tifa said with a small smile. "It must have been at least two months by now…"

"On the run from Shinra for two months," Vincent mused. "And yet you still haven't been killed… you all should be proud."

"Don't think they haven't tried!" Cait Sith suddenly exclaimed. "Like every other day, Shinra is sendin' out more men to come and get us!"

Tifa giggled a little, and then commented, "Yeah, I couldn't have said it any better than that. For example, just a couple days ago, the Turks found us near Gongaga."

"The Turks?" Vincent asked, surprised that the group could survive an attack from the Turks. He knew they were powerful, but in all seriousness, he thought that he alone could probably kill them all in his sleep if he really wanted. They were definitely a powerful group, but there's too much silliness, too much playfulness to be a truly powerful group, the type of group that could defeat the Turks.

"Yup," Tifa said with pride. "Of course, it wasn't all of them, just two."

"I'm surprised you could defeat the Turks," Vincent told her, and he received a frown from her. He wasn't too surprised by that, several people disliked Vincent for his straight-forwardness and how he was always so serious. He couldn't count how many times Lucrecia had said, _"Why do you always have to be so serious, Vincent?"_ in those days so long ago.

"Well, I'm actually not so sure how much we really hurt them…" Tifa said, thinking back to the day. "But they did retreat."

"Did they sneak up on you at all?" Vincent asked, remembering back when he was a Turk and he would track people for hours, possibly even days depending on the target, before actually making a move.

"No, it actually seemed that they were waiting for us," Tifa told him. "In fact, we could hear them talking before they actually realized that we were even there."

Vincent looked perplexed at Tifa, for he was finding all this extremely unorthodox, as he could remember when a Turk could have lost his job or even been killed depending on the importance of the mission for being so foolish like that. But, regardless of the importance, that Turk would certainly be in trouble, and would have to face extreme consequences.

"Yeah," Tifa said, answering the confused look on Vincent's face, which most people probably wouldn't even detect, as it seemed all expressions had vanished long ago from Vincent's face. "I guess the Turks have laid back quite a bit since you were one, Vincent."

"I suppose so…" Vincent softly murmured.

"But they're still pretty tough," Cait Sith commented. "It's just that…"

"They're too cocky," Vincent finished for him, surprising both woken team members.

"Yeah, that's it exactly," Tifa nodded in a surprising shock. "How did you know that?"

"I've dealt with many people like that," Vincent replied. "However, none of them were ever Turks… Usually they were gang members or terrorists."

"I see…" Tifa muttered softly, dreadfully and carefully speaking the words. "People you'd have to… kill…"

"Yes," Vincent nodded, seeming not to even notice how dreadful she sounded. However, despite what it seemed, Vincent easily detected the dread, he simply didn't take it into much consideration. A lot of people reacted that way back when Vincent was a Turk. Lucrecia probably had one of the worse reactions to it, she would hardly ever speak about it and seemed like she just wanted to completely ignore the fact that he was a Turk… which was probably for the better anyway.

Vincent thought back to his days as a Turk. Even though he had been doing terrible things, it was a pretty good job for him. He was doing something that he was pretty good at, got a very good paycheck, and, best of all, he often worked alone. Vincent had always been better when he worked alone. Shinra knew this and usually, unless the mission was extremely important or difficult, would let him work alone. And now more than ever he wanted to be alone, especially with this group. Tifa and Nanaki were all right, and Cloud seemed ok, though he was perhaps too loving towards Aeris for Vincent's liking, but the rest seemed all far to hyperactive and gleeful for Vincent.

After a long, awkward silence, Cait Sith finally said, "Maybe you should start making breakfast, Tifa. The smell will probably wake the others up."

"That's not a bad idea," Tifa replied. "We should get an early start to Rocket Town; I really wanna get some new weapons and armor. Plus I want to find any information on Sephiroth and Shinra. And I have a feeling that this town will be full of information on at least Shinra. Or, if we're really lucky, we can get some revenge on some Shinra officials."

Vincent slightly nodded, fully understanding her lust for vengeance; however, she couldn't understand nearly how much he desired his own revenge on Hojo.

* * *

Everyone had finished Tifa's breakfast, except for Vincent who hadn't eaten (this was beginning to worry the group, but none of them told him, because none of them really wanted to get into an argument with such a dark, mysterious figure.). Just as Cait Sith had thought, the intoxicating aroma of Tifa's delicious food did in fact awake the other members of the group. They were all hungry, Vincent began to wonder if they were ever not hungry, but Tifa's meal filled them up just as well as it had the previous night. 

"Good meal, Tifa," Cloud, who sat between Tifa and Aeris, told her.

"Thanks, Cloud," Tifa said with a slight blush that no one, except Vincent, seemed to notice.

"And now that we're finished," Cloud announced, standing up and looking down at the group, except for Vincent, who was all ready standing with his arms crossed over his chest. "We should head to Rocket Town. If that place still has any association with Shinra, I have a feeling that some high officials will be over there, since they probably know that Sephiroth was at Nibelheim and heading this direction."

"Yes," Red XIII agreed. "We should hurry, however, I suggest we go in two different groups. In case there are Shinra officials there and we get caught."

"Yeah," Tifa said. "Plus if the Turks are there, they'd have to separate to get both teams, and then we could take them down easier."

"Aight," Barret exclaimed, leaping up ungracefully from his spot around the campfire. "I'll be in charge o' the second group!"

"Ok," Cloud nodded, then scanned over the group. "How about… Aeris, Cait Sith, and…" Cloud glanced over the group and his eyes rested on Vincent for a quick moment. Cloud knew that if Vincent were to go with Barret, he would only be getting a hard time from the bulky, gun-armed man, which really gave Cloud no other option. "… Vincent come with me. Then, Yuffie, Red XIII, and Tifa can go with you, Barret."

"Ok," Barret nodded, then glared at Vincent. "N' keep a sharp eye on 'im, Cloud."

Cloud silently sighed and rolled his eyes, then said, "Ok, now lets go."

"How shall we get in?" Vincent patiently asked. "If you're correct and there are Shinra officials, it wouldn't be wise to simply walk in the main entrance."

"Yeah…" Cloud mumbled softly, then glanced at the town once again. "It doesn't seem that they're working on the rocket… my group can sneak in there…"

"What 'bout my group?" Barret impatiently asked.

"I'm trying to think…" Cloud murmured, eyeing the town for possible entrances. "Maybe you guys can just slowly walk around the town, and sneak in between some of the homes. You guys can play support, if you happen to notice any Shinra officials, call us, and we'll call you if we see the same."

"Aight," Barret replied.

"And be sure to turn your PHS on vibrate," Cloud said as he tossed the second PHS to Barret. "Incase we need to call you." Barret nodded, doing as he was told. "All right, guys," Cloud announced, turning towards Rocket Town. "Let's go."

* * *

It didn't take long for them to reach Rocket Town, nor did it take long for Cloud's team to sneak around the back to the rocket. The rocket was humungous, much larger than they had suspected, however, it was very obvious that the device was several years old and needed repairs. The metal was beginning to rust in several spots and there were countless wires falling from the rocket and down to the earth. Not to mention the rocket itself was tilted away from the town, making Vincent wonder what had happened to make it lean at such an angle. 

"This is pretty cool…" Cloud muttered as he glanced up and down the rocket.

"A Shinra rocket…" Vincent uttered, looking over the rocket with the most interest he had yet shown the group of having. "Space exploration… I can't believe how far they had come…"

"Wow… I can't believe its still here…" Cait Sith told them as he too eyed the rocket keenly. "The schedule was that the rocket was supposed to launch off a couple years ago. I would think that someone would have done something with it by now."

"Cloud," Vincent said, his keen eyes looking up a ladder which lead to an entrance into the rocket.

"What is it?" Cloud asked. Vincent didn't answer, so Cloud followed his gaze up and maybe did notice something, but he couldn't quite tell what it was. He also thought that he may have heard some movement, but he wasn't too sure.

"What is it?" Aeris asked, following the men's gaze and squinting as hard as she could. "I can't see anything."

"There's someone up there," Cloud told her. "We should go up there, if it's Shinra, we have to stop them before they can alert anyone else."

"Okey dokey," Cait Sith said and walked over to the ladder.

"Wait…" Cloud muttered then turned to Vincent. "This is too risky. I'll climb up first, Vincent, you use you're sniper rifle to cover me, all right?"

Vincent nodded and walked a little ways away. Then he took out his sniper rifle and lied down on the ground, aiming his rifle up above. He could certainly see something bluish-purple, he thought it might be a Shinra SOLDIER uniform, identical to the one Cloud wore, but he couldn't be sure.

The gunslinger then nodded to Cloud, who began his climb, he went as quickly as he could while still being as quiet as he could, and succeeded with ease. He reached the top without whoever was up there noticing. Next went Aeris and then Cait Sith, all being as silent as they could and reaching the top without alarming whoever was there. Then Vincent began his climb, and he was perhaps the quickest and quietest of them all, and he never alarmed whoever was inside.

"There's only one person in there," Cloud whispered to his group. "I'm certain, but I can't tell if he's from Shinra or not."

The others nodded and slowly followed Cloud inside the rocket, and discovered that the person who was inside wasn't a soldier, but was a civilian. He had pale blond hair, with goggles right above his dull blue eyes. He wore a white shirt covered by a blue pilot coat, and wore slightly baggy brown pants.

"Damn it, Shera!" hollered the man suddenly. "I told you to-!" he jumped up and spun around, and instantly stopped his yelling once he saw the four standing there. "Who the hell are you?" he asked, then looked over Cloud. "… Are you with Shinra?"

"Uhh, no," Cloud replied. "We're-"

"I don't give a rat's ass!" the man interrupted, motioning for them to go away. "Get off of my goddamn rocket!"

"Um, sorry, we were just looking around, sir…" Aeris muttered.

"Sir?! Don't talk to me like I'm some old man," the man told them. "My name is Cid Highwind, and don't you forget it, kiddy!"

"What do you want with Shinra?" Cloud asked, trying to find out all he could about Shinra's plans.

"The president's comin'," Cid told him excitedly, seeming very happy to be on the subject. "I'm hopin' they'll tell me that they're restarting the space program."

"The president?!" Cait Sith exclaimed.

"Yeah," Cid nodded, then looked down at his wristwatch. "He should be arrivin' pretty soon. I just wanted to do some last minute repairs on the ship."

Vincent glanced over the ship and thought it needed a whole lot more than last minute repairs, but didn't bother to say anything.

"Yeah," Cid nodded with a smirk, then glared at the team. "Now get the hell off my rocket!"

"Just one more thing," Cloud commented. "Are there any Shinra officials around?"

"A couple," Cid replied with a shrug. "I thought you were one of 'em, wearin' that SOLDIER uniform and all. They said they're lookin' for some people, them terrorists, I forget it's like AVALANCHE or something, and Sephiroth."

"Oh really?" Cloud muttered. "Well, I guess we should be leaving then."

"Hold on a minute," Cid stopped him, grabbing the ex-SOLDIER's uniform. "I'm all done here… I'll take you to my house, Shera can make us some tea."

"Why?" Cait Sith asked.

"You seem to know a lot about Shinra," Cid told them. "I also happen to know a lot about Shinra. Let's talk a little."

"Yeah, all right," Cloud nodded, always glad to hear more information about their enemy. "Let's go to your house, Cid."

"Damn straight," the pilot said, then lead the group off the rocket and into town.

* * *

"Damn," Barret murmured from the alley his team was hiding in. "There aren't too many Shinra people, but I dunno how much longer I'll be able to jes sit 'ere and wait." 

"Well, we're going to have to," Red XIII told Barret. "Do you see anyone notable, like the president, or the Turks?"

Barret snuck forward a little and peeked around, then snuck back. "Nope, I don't see anyone, they're probably all at the inn or sumthin' I imagine. Though there are jes some troopers."

"Man, I hate this!" Yuffie whined. "Can't we go and fight yet?!"

"Calm down, Yuffie," Tifa told the young ninja. "You know Cloud, we'll get into a fight soon enough."

"The sooner the better, if ya ask me," Barret muttered. "I'm wit' the brat on this one. I dunno if I'll be able to stand this much longer."

"Shh," Red XIII muttered, his eyes watching someone outside. "Look…"

Barret and the others followed Red XIII's gaze and saw Tseng looking around, then waved to someone, and then the president appeared on the scene, along with some of the other Shinra officials.

"The president!" Barret exclaimed, raising his gun-arm. "'Bout time."

"Wait Barret," Red XIII immediately told him. "Look… they're going up to a house…"

"Let's call Cloud," Tifa told them. "Then we'll decide what to do."

"Aw fine!" Barret exclaimed, digging into his pocket and taking out the PHS. "Damn it, we have the perfect opportunity to take care o' all this right now…"

Barret grumbled as he dialed the numbers for Cloud's PHS.

* * *

"Damn it, Shera!" Cid yelled at the slightly younger, fairly attractive woman. "Ya gotta make some tea for the damn guests!"

Cid had just come in from working on a small aircraft that he calls the 'Tiny Bronco'. He ordered Shera to make Cloud, Aeris, Vincent, and Cait Sith some tea before he went out, however, Shera instead told them about why she works for him and why the rocket ship is destroyed. She told how Cid saved her life by canceling the launch, and ruining his hopes and dreams, which is why she doesn't mind him yelling at her and working for him so much.

Being with them bothered Vincent very much. He had been raised to always treat a woman with respect and use proper language around them. Cid, meanwhile, seemed to go against all of Vincent's teachings, not that Vincent cared very much. However people want to deal with each other was their own business, and it seemed to be working fine for them anyway. At first Vincent thought they might be married, but noticed that neither of them were wearing a wedding ring, so he dismissed the thought.

"No, it's all right," Aeris politely told the pilot. "We don't want any tea…"

"Fine, whatever," Cid said, taking a seat and resting his feet at his kitchen table. "Any word from the president, Shera?"

"Not yet, Cid," Shera patiently replied.

"Goddamn kids, can't keep a damn schedule," Cid muttered, looking down at his watch.

Suddenly Cloud made a small jump, and felt into his pocket, then said, "Uhh, I'm gonna step outside real fast, ok?" Cloud then went out the back way.

"I think I'll go with him," Aeris told them, and the followed him outside.

"What's that all about?" Cid asked, standing up. "They better not be thinkin' about takin' my damn-"

"He's been ill lately," Vincent interrupted the pilot.

"Uhh, yeah!" Cait Sith exclaimed. "Real sick. It just comes and goes, ya know?"

"Huh, I guess," Cid replied, sitting back down.

After a minute, Cloud and Aeris came back inside, Cloud looking pale at his other two teammates. "Did you heave up, kid?" Cid asked.

"Huh?" Cloud asked.

"Vinny, here-" Cid began.

"_Vincent_," the frightening man sternly said, though not moving his eyes to the pilot. He couldn't help but wonder why everyone seemed to be using that nickname for him. He had no problem with Vince or Valentine, and yet they all seem to choose to call him Vinny.

"Told me that you were sick," Cid continued, seeming unaffected by Vincent.

"Oh, uhh no, I didn't throw up," Cloud answered sheepishly. "But, I am feeling kinda sick, I think we should head out guys."

Just then there was a pounding at the door, and Cid instantly sprang up and answered it, while Cloud and the others and leaned back and felt for their weapons. Behind the door was Palmer, the pudgy leader of Space Exploration at Shinra Headquarters.

"Palmer!" Cid exclaimed, for a second it seemed that he would hug the fat man, but instead he slapped his flabby shoulder. "About time you showed up!"

"Yeah," the fat man said, looking over at the tea Shera was making. "The president's outside, he wants to talk to you, Cid."

"That's more like it!" Cid exclaimed excitedly. "You can sit in here and Shera'll make you some tea."

"All right," Palmer said, sitting in the spot where Cid was while the pilot dashed outside.

The team calmed down a little since it seemed Palmer couldn't remember them from the Shinra Headquarters. Which was very surprising, however, at the moment, they didn't care much.

Cloud turned back to the group and whispered, "We should check outside and see what they're talking about…"

The team nodded and they all snuck to the door and slightly opened it, but only enough to hear what they were talking about, not enough to see anything.

"Startin' up the space program again?" Cid asked, sounding more gleeful than he had yet shown the group. "It's 'bout time, in a couple years, I don't think the rocket will be able to-"

"We're not restarting the space program," the president interrupted, completely ignoring the fact that Cid's cheerful face quickly sunk. "We're hunting Sephiroth, but it seems we've been heading in the wrong direction, he's heading towards the Temple of the Ancients, so we'll need to borrow the Tiny Bronco."

The pilot was silent for a moment and stared at the president dumbstruck, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. "What?!" Cid suddenly hollered. "You goddamn kid! Why the hell would I give you my goddamn ship?! That's all I have after you damn Shinra-"

"Umm, Cloud," Shera said from behind them, the team turned and was surprised to no longer see Palmer there. "I think that man is trying to steal the Tiny Bronco…"

"What?!" Cloud exclaimed. "We have to stop him!"

Cloud, followed immediately by Vincent, Aeris, and Cait Sith, dashed to the back, to see Palmer in the pilot's seat of the plane, trying to start it up, while mumbling something. "I'm supposed to be a Shinra official… not some mechanic…" he grumbled.

"What are you doing?!" Aeris cried.

"Wha-" Palmer started, then came to a great realization. "Now I remember you! You're the people from the headquarters when Sephiroth-"

"Enough talk!" Vincent exclaimed. "Get out of that airship this instant."

"And what if I don't?" Palmer snickered.

Instead of speaking, Vincent took out his peacemaker and aimed it towards the Shinra official. "Holy-!" Palmer started just as a bullet hit him directly in the shoulder, causing his fat body to tip out of the plane. "Shit!" Palmer then turned to run when Cloud drew his sword and charged at the fat official.

"Stop right there!" called a voice from on top of Cid's house. The man leapt down and they discovered that it was Reno and Rude jumped down right next to him. "We're taking this ship, Cloud."

"Over my dead body!" Cloud shouted, facing the two Turks with his blade held out, ready for a fight.

"Are you… the Turks?" Vincent asked, his right eyebrow raised in interest. The bald one seemed like he would be, but the other seemed like some slacker who just happened to be dressed like a Turk. His entire suit was wrinkled, his undershirt untucked, and the jacket unclipped, and his flaming red hair messy atop his head. It was highly unorthodox and he was amazed the Shinra would allow this man to continue to disgrace the Turks like this.

"Yeah, of course," Reno smirked, taking out his staff. "And you must be the legend himself. Vincent Valentine, it's truly an honor."

"What are you talking about?" Vincent demanded.

"We heard all about you when we were training to become Turks," Reno explained. "You were one of the best… they always told us you were dead… what exactly did happen to you, Valentine? Something with Hojo, that's all-"

"Silence!" Vincent shouted and fired a shot and the cocky young Turk.

Reno dived to the right, however, the bullet still grazed across his arm, causing blood flow. "Bastard!" Reno shouted, then aimed the end of his staff at Vincent like a pointer stick. "I'll get you for that!" Reno then charged and was about to slam Vincent with his staff, however, Vincent easily leapt out of the way, and fired another shot at Reno's back. "Shit!" Reno bellowed. "Rude cure me!"

Instantly, Reno's companion cured the cocky Turk and the blood at once stopped flowing. Now, Cloud charged at red-haired Turk, and sliced his sword at the younger Turk, but Reno used his staff to defend himself, then leapt to the side, and jabbed Cloud with it, using its electrical current to shock Cloud. Cait Sith shot a fire spell at Reno, causing the attack to cease, giving Cloud some time to get away. "Damnit!" Cloud cried, but instantly the worried Aeris cured him.

While this had happened, Rude dashed after Vincent, and slammed his fist into Vincent's side. Vincent was amazed by how powerful the Turk was, however, the injury was nothing that threatened Vincent in any way whatsoever. Instead, Vincent aimed his gun at the dark skinned Turk and opened fire, shooting him three times in the stomach, once in his right arm, and a fifth in his left leg.

Rude stumbled backwards, and desperately struggled to use his cure spell, however, Vincent didn't give him the chance. The minute Rude tried to cure himself, Vincent used his bolt materia, and the lightening injured the Turk even further. However, as Vincent was about to cast another spell, the Turk dived behind the plane, and managed to heal himself.

Just then, Cloud slashed again at Reno, who was distracted by his teammate's severe injuries, and this time managed to slash Reno on his stomach, and just then Aeris used a fire spell on Reno while Cait Sith used an earth spell on the cocky Turk. "Shit!" Reno cried, and then dove backwards, barely dodging another strike from Cloud's sword. "Screw you!" Reno cried and used an ice 2 spell on Cloud, causing him to be incased in an icicle for a moment, as Aeris frantically tried to cure him.

Vincent knew that he couldn't get Rude at the moment, because, though he could see vulnerable parts of the Turk behind the plane, he didn't want to risk shooting the airship and rendering it useless. So instead, Vincent turned to the weakened Reno, put his gun in its holster, as he was low on ammunition, and dived on the Turk, with his bronze claw digging into his chest. "Damn it!" Reno hollered once more, jabbing his staff into Vincent's chest and using the electrical charge.

Vincent, however, didn't seem to notice the pain, and instead grabbed Reno by the neck with his claw arm, and dug into his skin, causing massive blood to flow from his neck. However, just then, Rude came up and punched Vincent in the back of his neck, causing Vincent to stumble forward and lose his grip on Reno, who then used a cure spell on himself and the two jumped backwards.

"Damn it," Reno muttered.

"Tseng is gonna be mad again," Rude told the younger Turk.

"Well, next time we'll get ya," Reno said, and then dashed off, and Rude instantly following him.

Just then, they heard a cry emerge from the town center, and instantly they all turned and charged, Vincent not yet cured from his wounds in that battle.

* * *

"Shit!" Barret yelled from the alley. It seemed that Tseng and Elena figured out where they were hiding and had opened fire on them. Barret was the only one with a long range weapon that didn't require him to jump out, and it seemed that their gunfire was never-ending (as though they had timed it perfectly, while one fired the other reloaded), which didn't give any of them a chance to charge out and attack, or use a spell on them. 

"Where's Cloud?!" Yuffie cried, completely annoyed that she hadn't yet had the chance to leap out and throw her weapon.

"He'll be here soon," Tifa assured the ninja, _I hope…_ Tifa added to herself.

"I don't think he's comin' soon 'nough!" growled Barret. "I dunno how much longer I'm gonna be able ta keep this shit up!"

Just then, the bullets were no longer directed at them, however, they could still hear gunfire. "Cloud! Finally!" Tifa exclaimed, the team all jumping from their hiding spots and charging at the two Turks, seeing their other teammates all there, including Cid, who they haven't meet yet, who was simply standing there and watching the fight.

"President!" Tseng yelled, turning back to the president who was younger than Tseng by a few years. "I believe it's time for you to fall back. Leave this to us and the troops!"

"Very well," the president said, looking over Cloud. "I guess I'll never see you again, hmm?"

"I'll be the one to kill you, yet!" Cloud shouted as a helicopter came down and the president jumped on.

"We'll see about that…" the president said and then broke out in laughter which Cloud could barely hear over the roar of the helicopter.

Vincent aimed his gun up at the president and was about to fire when Tseng shot at his underarm. "There'll be none of that," Tseng coolly said.

Vincent grabbed his new wound, however, it didn't ache him too painfully, so he chose to ignore it for now. "More Turks?" Vincent asked. "I trust you'll put up more of a battle than the others."

"Yes, of course," Tseng responded with a smirk.

"You defeated Reno and Rude?!" Elena cried. "Sir, I'm not as good as them yet!"

"Elena…" Tseng muttered, shaking his head. "You talk too much."

"Uhh, sorry sir…" Elena muttered, looking down at her feet.

"Though she might not be as good as them quite yet," Tseng told them. "I assure you, I'll make up for it."

"You'd best," Vincent said. "The Turks have fallen a long way since I last remember it."

"We'll see about that, Valentine," Tseng glared, instantly pulling up his gun and blasting at the ex-Turk.

Vincent dived out of the way and behind one of the homes, and the others in his team followed. Barret's team, however, had come out of their alleyway, leaving them open to bullets. Though Barret did instantly begin firing, his bullets seemed to wild and often missed, while the Turk's bullets were more accurate and precise.

Tseng first fired at the only threat, Barret, and blasted at his gun arm, which caused it to explode, and Barret stumbled back, hollering in pain, "Shit! Tifa help me!"

Tifa was about to cast a cure spell, when Elena fired a shot, hitting Tifa in her right shoulder. Tifa stumbled backwards, but the bullet hadn't struck anything major, and had, in fact, simply grazed her shoulder. "You'll have to do a lot better than that to get me!" Tifa exclaimed as she charged at the female Turk.

Elena instantly fired at Tifa as she charged, who, despite how much she wanted to reach the newest Turk, knew that she wouldn't make it all the way at this rate, so she dived down and hide behind a home. Next, Red XIII used a fire 2 spell on Tseng, who barely seemed effected by it, and Yuffie threw her boomerang at Tseng, however, the Turk leader easily slipped out of the way, and then fired at the boomerang, causing it to fall in its spot.

"No!" Yuffie cried, now being forced to run up and grab her weapon.

However, then Cloud leapt from his spot and slashed Tseng in the back, and Vincent fired the last two of his bullets at Elena, and then had to put in another clip. Aeris jumped out and healed Barret, who had nearly passed out from the immense pain, while Cait Sith used an earth spell on Elena.

"We're surrounded, sir!" Elena exclaimed, standing up from the quake attack.

"We're not out yet!" Tseng shouted, whipping Cloud with his pistol, causing the swordsman to stumble backward, then firing a shot at Cloud's chest.

"Damnit!" Barret yelled, who had no means of attacking at the moment. His weapon was useless for now and he held only a fire materia, but he was never very good at using materia. "They're too good!"

Just then, they heard an engine fire up, and they saw the Tiny Bronco take off from behind the pilot's house. "Get on, assholes!" Cid hollered as the team jumped on and grab the wings of the plane. Vincent was just about to jump on when he saw Tifa, and knew that, from her position, she wouldn't be able to make it onto the plane, and if she were left here alone, she wouldn't last two seconds against the Turks.

So, instead, Vincent stayed and started firing at the two Turks, who were shooting at the plane. Tifa took this opportunity to jump from her spot, while she was there, she had enough time to cure herself, and charged at Elena, and punched her in the face as hard as she could. The female Turk literally flew backwards, and was slammed into the side of a house.

Tseng, fired one last shot at the plane, which managed to hit the engine, which almost instantly burst into flames and smoke. "Now," Tseng smirked, replacing his clip with a new one and facing Vincent. "I can take care of you!"

In response, Vincent instantly began firing at the Turk leader. Tseng immediately fired back and the two started their gun fight, each leaping and running from side to side to avoid each other's bullets. Vincent knew this was futile, for he could probably never hit the barely injured Turk leader and Vincent's aches were starting to catch up to him, he could feel himself getting weaker, but he had a plan.

He allowed the Turk leader to continue his firing at Vincent, and then Tseng ran

out of bullets and began changing his clip, and this was the moment when Vincent charged. The former Turk slashed at Tseng's face with his claws, instantly causing deep cuts that would later prove to become scars. Tseng stumbled backwards, dropping the clip, however, he used the pistol and charged, smashing the pistol into Vincent's face. Vincent stumbled back slightly, and turned his attention back to Tseng just in time to see the man put another clip into his gun, and start firing at Vincent's stomach.

Tifa, meanwhile, continued pummeling Elena with everything she had, not giving the newest Turk a second to fight back. However, Tifa eventually did begin to slow down and Elena instantly, mimicking Tseng, used her pistol to whip Tifa across her cheek. Tifa stumbled back slightly, but then swerved around and punched Elena in her stomach as hard as she could, and Tifa saw the young Turk cough up some blood.

Elena stumbled backwards, once again against the building, and Tifa punched her face, not only causing great pain to her face, but to the back of her head as well, as it bashed against the side of the building, causing the newest Turk to instantly fall unconscious.

Then Tifa turned and saw Vincent getting shot in his stomach by the Turk leader, and Vincent having nothing to do except wait for certain death. Tifa couldn't allow that to happen, so she charged at the leader of the Turks, grabbed him by the neck, and hurled him down to the ground.

Vincent saw this as he felt blood welling up in his throat, and actually did cough an unsafe amount once the attack was halted. Vincent completely lost feeling in his stomach, and he felt there with his hands, only to discover it absolutely covered with his blood. Vincent's mind was beginning to slow due to the loss of blood, giving him almost a high feeling, and then he saw the Turk leader grasp Tifa's ankle and pull her down to the ground next to him. He then rolled on top of her, rose his pistol high, and whipped her with it as he had done to Vincent.

Vincent, his vision beginning to get a little blurry due to the blood loss, leapt at Tseng and tore him off of Tifa, and once again slashed him with his bronze claw, except this time in the chest. Vincent bellowed in pain as the Turk leader fired the last shot of his clip into Vincent's chest, a shot that, especially at Vincent's health, would kill a normal man… but Vincent was hardly normal. The ex-Turk managed to stay alive due to a reason not even he himself knew, even with all the mako and countless other chemicals which were put into Vincent, he doubted that anyone could survive such pain, he had never felt such pain ever in his life.

Rage filled Vincent's mind. In his state, his mind was beginning to deteriorate, almost making it primitive, all he could fully comprehend were two things: this man had caused him much pain and that he needed to kill this man. Vincent turned his claw into a fist, and bashed it into the Turk's head, and then repeated the process, until Tseng managed to build his strength up and roll over, now him being on top of Vincent.

However, instead of using that opportunity to injury, or maybe even kill Vincent, he leapt off, and pistol-whipped Tifa, who was sneaking up behind him, and she too stumbled to the ground. Tseng charged for Elena, hoisted her up over his shoulder, and pulled out his phone and called for a helicopter, which appeared in seconds.

"You got off easy this time," Tseng told them as they both started to stand. "Next time, you're both finished."

The helicopter then took off, and the minute it was out of sight, Vincent stumbled to the ground. His vision was now completely blurry and he could make little sense of what was happening. The last thing he heard before passing out was Tifa crying his name.

* * *

Tifa turned to the ex-Turk who had not only just saved her life, but had stumbled to the ground. She then saw how terrible his wounds were and just how much blood he had lost. All around the gunslinger the ground was stained a color red that matched his eyes. The martial artist knew that Vincent was incredibly powerful and could take a lot of damage before passing out, but she had no idea Vincent could take this much pain and still survive. 

"Vincent!" Tifa cried. She knew that if she didn't do something, Vincent would die on the spot, and he had just saved her life, if he hadn't stayed behind with her, she surely would have been murdered or captured by the Turks. Tifa used several cures on Vincent until he started to stop bleeding, however, she was still worried; he was still unconscious and was probably suffering internally, something that only time could heal, not cure spells.

She tore off his shirt and saw all the scars; countless scars riddled his chest and arms. There were also strange scars that were clearly not from battles, one for example was a large Y shaped scar, similar to an autopsy scar, as well as a long incision on both arms below his bicep muscles. There were so many Tifa nearly fell back in horror, however, she had to save him, for he had saved her. The new wounds were still very clear, and so she used a piece of his shirt, which had been ripped off, and began covering his cuts, wrapping the cloth around him and tying it securely.

After she had done all she could, people started coming out of their homes, including Shera, who rushed up to help her. "Oh my goodness!" Shera exclaimed, pausing for a moment to cover her mouth, the she looked over at Tifa. "Is he all right?"

"I… I don't know," Tifa said, she felt like crying, she had known him for such a short amount of time and yet he had done so much for her. "I think he will get better though…"

"Me too," Shera lied to Tifa. Shera, being an astronomer, had never had much experience with fighting and death, however, she had been alive during the Shinra Wutai War, and pretty much everyone during that time had seen some action, the fighting in that war took place all across the planet. Although she was young, she could remember seeing people who had been killed and looked a whole lot better than Vincent did right then. "You put those bandages on very well, now all he can do is sleep until his wounds heal…"

"Yeah…" Tifa muttered, then sprang up. "We have to find him a place to rest!"

"I'll help you carry him to the inn," Shera proposed. They did so and Tifa immediately took him up to a room, tossing whatever gil she had in her pocket on the counter. "Are you with the others?" Shera asked. "Cloud and those people?"

"Yeah," Tifa nodded, not thinking at the moment why she would know Cloud.

"I'll go look for them," the kind woman said with a kind smile. "I'm certain they'll be back for you two."

"Yes, thank you very much," Tifa told her, who then left the room.

Tifa looked down at Vincent, and she felt like wrapping her arms around him and just crying into his chest (which, she noticed, was very handsome, practically statuesque), but she knew that would only cause him more pain. Looking down at him, this man who had nearly given his life for her, Tifa felt so useless. She couldn't do anything to help him now, she could only sit here and wait for him to wake up.

Then she saw him twitch and thought that Vincent might be waking up, however, he started sweating, and muttered "Lucrecia… Hojo no…" and then she understood, he was having a nightmare.

* * *

Yeah, this is a lot different from what it was like in the game, I know, but let me explain. Firstly, the president is coming and there would be added security. Plus, Shinra knows that AVALANCHE and Sephiroth were nearby, so that would involve the Turks. At least, I would think so. 

Anyways, tell me what you think!

And yeah, I know this chapter was really long, but please, REVIEW!!!


	5. The Monster Vincent Valentine

Chapter Five: The Monster Vincent Valentine 

* * *

The first instant he woke up, all Vincent Valentine could feel was pain. His stomach felt as though there were daggers dug deep within, cutting up his insides, his chest felt tight like it was hard to breath, and there felt like there were claws digging into his skin on his left arm just above his elbow. His eyes shot open and he howled in agony, rolling over and falling to a hard cold ground, causing even more pain to his stomach and chest.

He quickly shut his eyes, as they stung as though bees had gone to town on each of them. Without the use of his eyes, Vincent used his hands to feel around to try to figure out where he was. The first thing that the Turk realized was that he had no feeling in his left hand and, as he felt around, his left elbow felt even worse.

Deciding to see what had happened, he opened his eyes to small slits and glanced at his left arm. Seeing what was there, his eyes burst open once more, despite the intense stinging sensation. Starting just above his elbow was a grotesque bronze claw that stretched down and where his fingers once were now stood five monstrous claws.

Vincent felt like screaming once more, yelling at the top of his lungs, destroying everything in his sight, but he withheld it this time. He is a Turk, or was one, after all and, although he had an earlier moment of weakness, he would allow no more. After his earlier scream, he was surprised that his enemy wasn't here yet, when Vincent realized that he wasn't even sure who his enemy was yet.

Vincent closed his eyes to put aside the stinging sensation for a moment, then slowly opened them once more to see where he was. He instantly recognized the room as the laboratory for the Jenova Project, with its long test tubes which were currently empty, the library down a short hallway, and the experimentation table which he had just fallen from. Glancing around, he suddenly remembered all that had happened. His dear Lucrecia… Lucrecia giving birth to Sephiroth… then… then Hojo… shooting him… Vincent felt his blood beginning to boil with rage for the villainous scientist, undoubtedly the same scientist who had given him his new arm.

Vincent glared down at his arm again, then down at himself, to see for any more deformities. The first thing he realized was that he was wearing nothing but the black boxers he was wearing when Hojo had shot him, next he saw that there were incision cuts all across his stomach and chest, each being neatly stitched up. Vincent felt like screaming again and, again, he held it in. Since no one had yet showed up, he determined that he was lucky that no one had heard him screaming the first time, and he wouldn't dare risk it again.

Vincent then glanced up to the door when he saw something that, at first, he wasn't sure what it was. Long, black strands fell and covered his eyes. Vincent was completely confused until he realized that his hair had grown over and now reached well beyond his eyes, which was strange to him, since he had always kept his hair short and neat.

This knowledge made Vincent realize that he didn't know how long it had been since he had been shot. It could have been years, for all he knew, and the Shinra mansion could be long since abandoned, Hojo leaving him here to rot, never intending the Turk to wake up. Vincent ignored the thought instantly, realizing that he doesn't know and, no matter how long he thought about it, he wouldn't know nor would the information help him. What Vincent did know, however, was that he had to get out of here and get his revenge on Hojo.

This thought brought a sadistic grin to Vincent's face. Hojo had given him a fancy new claw and Vincent thought that it would only be right to show Hojo first hand how well he could use it. Vincent glanced down at the claw, no longer caring that his arm wasn't there, that he was now and forever deformed, his thoughts only on slaughtering Hojo.

Vincent wasn't sure how to work his claw and, when he thought about it, he wasn't even sure how fingers worked, it just seemed that they bid to your minds will. So, Vincent decided that he would try that, moving his claw around as though it were just a regular arm. Another sadistic grin formed when Vincent saw that the claw had moved just fine.

Vincent slowly stood, trying to feel for anything else that he should be concerned with, but was glad to find that there were none. His stomach was still in pain, his chest still felt tight, and his eyes still stung, but none of that mattered, the only thing that mattered was destroying Hojo. Feeling that his body still seemed to function perfectly fine, he gave one last quick glance around the room, making sure that there was no one else in the room, and walked towards the door.

Vincent swung the door open and was surprised to see three second class Shinra SOLDIERs awaiting him each with a machinegun facing him. "Freeze, Valentine," one barked. "Don't move a muscle."

Vincent slightly grinned, deciding that this would be the perfect opportunity to test out his new claw. Vincent kept his eyes on the SOLDIERs, curious as to what they would do next, waiting for a better opportunity to strike. Impatient, Vincent asked, "Exactly what do you plan to do now?"

"Force you back into that room," the SOLDIER said sternly. "Now move."

The SOLDIER took a step closer to smack Vincent with his gun, which was the opportunity that the gunslinger was waiting for. Vincent quickly grabbed the gun with his human hand and grasped his neck with the new claws. Vincent easily managed to take the gun out of the SOLDIER's hands and instantly there was blood dripping from the young man's neck where his monstrous fingers had quickly and effortlessly dug through skin. Vincent was pleasantly surprised at the power of his claw.

Judging by the looks on their faces, the other two SOLDIERs were understandably horrified by the sight before them. Vincent skillfully spun the machine gun around in his human arm and, while the other two SOLDIERs continued to stare dumbfounded at their now dead comrade, Vincent riddled each of their bodies with a number of bullets, but he was sure to still leave some bullets.

Vincent spun, facing the machinegun further down the hallway to see any threats. Vincent was surprised to discover that he could see all the way down the hall, as before he had trouble seeing a few feet in front of him in the dark rocky hallway. He shrugged it off, not caring why he could see so strangely well, just glad he could. He then tossed the dead SOLDIER off of his claws with some trouble; his claws apparently dug in deep enough to make it a slight challenge, so he had to pry the body off with his other hand.

Next, Vincent tossed down his machinegun and replaced it with one of the other two, since they still had a full clip, then picked up a handgun that the SOLDIERs had around their waist. Vincent decided to hold the machinegun in his claw arm, but was dismayed to see that it simply wouldn't work. The claws seemed refusing to bend around well enough to properly hold the gun, but he did manage to hold onto it and could fire the machinegun but decided he would only do so if he absolutely had to, since he was improperly holding it, if fired it may fall or spin around in his fingers.

Vincent then walked down the hallway and began to ascend the long circular stairwell, all the way thinking how glad he would be once he managed to dig his claws through _Hojo's_ neck. As he reached the top, he stood before the doorway and, just as he was about to open it, he froze. He heard someone beyond the door quietly speaking, undoubtedly prepared for him bursting through the door.

Vincent didn't understand why he could hear through the door, as it was a thick brick door, but, like with his eyesight, he didn't care. Prepared for a number of men, Vincent put his machinegun in his human hand and his handgun into his claw hand, which held it slightly better, but still improperly. Vincent quickly kicked the door open and instantly opened fire with the machinegun, destroying everything in sight.

He continued firing until all he heard were dry clicks, then glanced around the room, seeing three more fallen SOLDIERs. His machinegun now useless, Vincent tossed it to the ground and put his pistol back in his good hand. Vincent was about to leave the room and go into the next hallway, when he suddenly stopped and heard extremely light footsteps in the hallway.

Vincent paused for a moment and considered grabbing one of the machineguns from the downed SOLDIERs then, focusing on his listening, determined that there was only one SOLDIER in the hallway, and he wouldn't need to use a machinegun. Vincent quickly spun out into the hallway and aimed his handgun towards a SOLDIER and fired a single shot. Vincent was dismayed to discover that this was no ordinary SOLDIER, but an elite first class SOLDIER, one whom held a blade instead of a gun. Vincent's foe managed to dodge the bullet, raised his sword high and swung down at Vincent.

Instead of dodging and giving the SOLDIER another opportunity to strike, Vincent caught the blade with his claw arm. The SOLDIER looked wide-eyed at the claw which had easily caught the blade which, since he was first class, had undoubtedly slaughtered countless others. Vincent grinned sadistically at his frightened foe, raised his handgun, and shot him point blank in the face before he could even twitch.

Another SOLDIER down and Vincent grinned. Not only was he glad at his immense power, but he was also glad that, since there were SOLDIERs all over the mansion, someone of importance must be here. Vincent was hoping that someone was Hojo.

Vincent walked down the hall and went to the main stairwell, which overlooked the entrance room, and was amazed by what he saw. Standing near the entrance of the large entrance door stood three people, all of whom Vincent instantly recognized.

Standing to the left was the youngest of the Turks, a short, thin man with sandy blond hair tightly combed back and wearing sunglasses, as always, by the name of John Garland. In the center of the three was a gorgeous woman in her mid-twenties with auburn hair and dazzling green eyes, which stared directly at her almost nude former leader, with an extremely cocky grin on her face; a woman named Danielle Roberts. The third was a scientist, but not the one Vincent was hoping for. This scientist was Wutain, which was rare given the tension between Wutai and Shinra, with deeply tanned skin, dark hair combed neatly to one side, and intelligent brown eyes, a man known as Yuri Kamagatchi. Yuri was an associate with Hojo for the Jenova Project, not unlike Lucrecia, except he was much more taken by Hojo's warlike ideals over Gast's more pacifist ideals, like Lucrecia was. Then again, in the end, Lucrecia also turned herself over to Hojo's ideals.

All three had weapons aimed at the former Turk leader; John with a machinegun not unlike the SOLDIERs', Danielle with an uzi, and Yuri with a pistol identical to the one Vincent now held.

"Vincent Valentine," Danielle said in her deep, seductive voice. "Nice to see you again."

"Danielle… John…" Vincent muttered. "What are you doing?"

"We're here to take you to Hojo," Yuri answered for the Turks.

"Where is he?" Vincent demanded, his blood boiling after simply hearing the scientist's name.

"Ya know, Valentine," John said, taking off his sunglasses to reveal his deep blue eyes. "I looked up to you. You were loyal and deadly, a great combination. Then you threw it all away, threw away your damn _life_ all for some fuckin' broad. What the hell happened to you?"

John's words only made Vincent more angry, to call Lucrecia, his Lucrecia for whom he did, as John said, threw his life away, a _fuckin' broad_. "Don't call her that," Vincent told the youngest Turk with a deadly voice no sane person would mess with.

"Oh come _on_, Vince," Danielle told him. "She took away our good leader. I think we have the right to call the bitch what she is. A fuckin' broad."

"It wasn't Lucrecia," Vincent replied in the same deadly tone. "It was Hojo. Hojo is evil, he-"

"Who gives a _fuck_ what you think?!" Yuri suddenly shouted, outraged that someone would badmouth his mentor. "You're just a traitor in the eyes of Shinra. So, we decided to put you to some use."

"It was you who did this to me?"

"Hojo, actually," Yuri answered, he's eyes seeming to shine at the mere mention of the insane scientist. "If it were up to me, you'd be dead. But Hojo decided he wanted a body guard. That's where you come in."

"I will _never_ guard Hojo," Vincent growled.

"That's what _I _said," Yuri replied with a chuckle. "But he seemed to think that, through the experiments we did on you, he could change that. But, it looks like he was wrong."

"Damn right he was," Vincent snarled back.

"Oh well…" Yuri shrugged, then brutally grinned. "Guess we'll have to take out the trash."

As soon as those words were spoken, the trio opened fire on Vincent. Knowing that he stood little chance, the gunman rolled back into the hallway, where their gunfire couldn't hit him. "You can't hide from us, Vincent," Danielle called as she and John ran up the stairs after him.

Unfortunately for them, Vincent was able to hear exactly where they were and patiently waited for them to emerge into the hallway, but they never did. They were waiting for him to leave the hall. However, after a few short moments as both parties waited, Vincent saw something fly into the hallway and upon seeing that, he retreated into the room with the secret stairwell.

The grenade went off in the hallway, and the two Turks dashed in, hoping to finish off their former leader, if there was anything left, but discovered that he had retreated. Then, the two leapt into the room Vincent was in, Danielle rolled in and took cover behind a chair while John stayed in the doorway and fired his machinegun. With all the bullets flying, Vincent knew he had little chance, but also knew that he couldn't give up now.

Vincent quickly returned fire and dodged the shots as best he could, however, he still received three shots: one in his lower stomach, another just to the right of his chest, and the final shot in his left shoulder. However, Vincent also managed to get some good shots, getting John in his stomach and Danielle in her left thigh and stomach. The two Turks quickly retreated from the room and Vincent immediately followed.

Although it would appear that he was losing, him with three wounds and the two of them with a total of three, he actually felt pretty well. He had been shot a number of times before, well more than his fair share, but never had the bullets felt so… little. He was slightly worried about what exactly Hojo had done but, like with his vision and hearing, he didn't care and was just glad that it was helping. Hojo's experimentations was actually a much better help than he could have imagined.

The two Turks retreated into the hallway to heal their wounds and never would have expected Vincent to follow them, much less to be _able_ to follow them. The whole reason they actually left was because they were told to be extremely cautious; Hojo had warned them that Vincent was no longer human and they had listened. However, even hearing that, they wouldn't have expected Vincent to go charging into the hallway with three fresh gunshot wounds, but he did.

John and Danielle had both retreated to the hallway and each immediately pulled out a potion and healed themselves. Just as they had healed themselves, Vincent leapt into the hallway blasting away. Surprise is a very useful element of battle, and in this case, Vincent was using it to its full advantage. Neither had expected it to come nor were they prepared to start attacking, forcing them to retreat once more to the stairwell.

Once there, they both leapt down to the main floor and dashed over by Yuri, both with their weapons out and aiming towards the hallway, waiting for Vincent to jump out. However, they did take solace in knowing that their former leader had no way of healing himself, since they had specifically ordered that none of the SOLDIERs come with potions or any sort of materia.

Vincent dashed out of the hallway as quickly as he could, but the youngest Turk quickly pulled the trigger of his machinegun and managed to hit Vincent, causing him to stumble, and be the target of more gunshots from all three assailants. Vincent tried to continue forward but failed, and stumbled down the stairs to their level and his gun, his only means of offense from that distance at the time, flying out of his hands and landing near the door.

"_Cease fire_!" Vincent had heard Yuri shout, to which the other two instantly obeyed.

Vincent was somewhat thankful and somewhat hateful of the command. He was thankful that he now has another, no matter how slim, chance at a comeback. He was hateful because now, despite whatever it was Hojo had done to his body, he was in serious pain, gunshot wounds literally all around his body. He felt his anger welling deep within his chest but knew that he could do absolutely nothing.

Yuri walked up to Vincent, who at this point was coughing up blood, and gave him a swift kick to his stomach, which caused Vincent to groan and roll on his back, then he slowly opened his eyes towards the young scientist. "You're pathetic," Yuri told him with a very serious and cold look on his face. It reminded Vincent so much of Hojo that he wanted to tear it off with his claw, but knew he couldn't… not yet anyway. "Professor Hojo had designed you to be able to take on countless enemies, but you failed him."

Vincent was about to reply, but could only cough up more blood.

"Why isn't he dead, Yuri?" John suddenly asked. "Nothing can live through all this. _Nothing_."

"Not true, Johnny," Danielle said with a smirk, stepping closer to Vincent to get a good look at him. "Looks like Valentine can."

"_SILENCE_!" Yuri shouted to the two Turks. "You will be silent this _instant_!" The two Turks instantly obeyed once more and Danielle stepped back next to John, the two exchanged a glance, then turned back to Vincent. "Now, Valentine," Yuri said with immense pleasure, hunching down on his knees and shoving the barrel of his gun into the former Turk's neck. "I'll finally do what I should have done so long ago…"

Vincent never can nor will be able to explain what had happened at that instant. He felt so much rage at that time, so many things left undone, so many things that should have happened but never did. He thought of Lucrecia and how they could have ran away together, raise their child together, grow old together, love each other for all their lives. A whole life was completely destroyed all because of the insane dreams of a madman.

The rage that Vincent felt then was unimaginable. He nearly felt like he would literally burst with rage, his chest felt tighter than ever and something just… let out.

Vincent screamed in agony and Yuri, instead of putting a bullet through Vincent's neck, stumbled back in fear. Vincent, meanwhile, screamed and writhed on the floor until his skin started to change to a purplish color.

Yuri, realizing what was happening, then turned to the two Turks. "Kill him!" he screamed, although he himself didn't do anything. "_Kill him NOW_!"

The other two stared at Vincent for a moment longer as his skin completely changed purple and his muscles started to grow enormous, and his mouth began to change into a short snout. Then they obliged. They instantly opened fire on their former leader, but nothing seemed to stop the transformation. He continued shouting his cries of pain and agony and hatred as he continued to change.

Yuri realized it was too late and wanted to turn to run, but his body betrayed him. He couldn't move at all, he was completely immobilized, only staring at his teacher's creation. Staring at Professor Hojo's latest monster.

The transformation was complete, this new purple monster let lose a gruesome roar, which meant death for its foes. John refused to sit and watch this. He quickly raised his machinegun and opened fire, however, he had very few shots before he could only hear the dry clicks of an empty clip. Once his gun was empty, he looked up and saw the beast staring down at him, then charged into him. It was the last thing he had ever seen.

This new monster, dubbed by Hojo as Galian Beast, charged into John, and slammed him up against the wall, instantly crushing his body, but the monster wasn't done with him yet. He tore the body in two at the waist and bellowed its awful roar, then tossed both parts to separate corners of the room. Leaving Danielle and Yuri to face this horrible monster alone.

Danielle was a woman who nearly always got her way. She was a rich snob growing up, forcing daddy to buy her everything she ever wanted and when he refused, she would cry about it until she got her way. He was the reason she got into Shinra Academy in the first place, by paying for a brand new wing of the school. Now, she was fairly certain that she wouldn't get her way. Danielle's grand plan in life was to become a Turk for the great benefits and retire early with the very generous pay. Now, all that was at risk, a greater risk than it had ever been in her service as a Turk, and she would be damned if she was going to sit down and take it.

As she raised her gun and opened fire, Yuri used this time to quickly run out of the mansion.

Galian Beast turned at her and let out another roar, although it almost sounded like a laugh at her pathetic attempt to stop him. Once her gun also ran out of bullets, she was at a complete loss and turned towards the door to follow Yuri as far away from here as she could, but suddenly, a huge fire erupted in front of her.

She had seen several fire spells, a fire materia had been the first materia that she ever mastered, but none of them was like this. It was more of an explosion than a simple spell. She turned back to Galian, and saw fire erupting from its mouth like a dragon, then she turned to run, but instead was blasted with fire. She shouted and cried and screamed for the short remainder of her life while she burned alive.

Galian was far from finished, for it had known that the scientist had escaped, however, the monster retreated, knowing that it must. Its muscles and snout descended and its skin slowly turned back to normal, once again revealing Vincent Valentine in nothing but his black boxers.

The former Turk leader couldn't describe how tired he felt. He felt tired and for the first instant had trouble keeping his eyelids open. For that first instant, all he wanted to do was fall down to the ground and succumb to his weariness. He felt as though he had just run a hundred miles nonstop, but then that instant passed, and he knew what he must do.

Vincent wasn't exactly sure what had happened but he did know one thing, Yuri had escaped. The former Turk dashed out the door, completely ignoring the strong need to rest, picking up his handgun on his way out, without really acknowledging at all as to what had happened in this horrendous mansion in the past minute. He saw Yuri opening the gate to leave and, to stop him, quickly raised up his gun and shot him in the dead center of his back, causing the scientist to fall to the ground.

With speed that he didn't even know he had, Vincent charged up to the scientist, who screamed when he saw his foe. Vincent grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt, lifted him up, and tossed him back to the door of the mansion as though he were no heavier than a feather, so that any citizens that wondered nearby would be less likely to see what was happening. Vincent slowly walked up to him as Yuri tried to think of a way to escape. Behind him were flames and he didn't dare go there, in front of him was Vincent Valentine with a gun, and he had a bullet in his back and didn't even know yet if he was paralyzed or not.

Vincent walked up to the scientist and jammed his gun into Yuri's neck, as he had done to him. "Now talk, where is Hojo?" Vincent demanded, pushing the gun further into the man's neck.

"M-Midgar," Yuri quickly mumbled, really fearing for his life for the first time.

Vincent allowed a small smile to form on his face. "You know, you called me a traitor for confronting Hojo," Vincent told the scientist who was too frightened to even open his eyes. "And you just signed his death warrant. Now what does that make you?"

The scientist shook his head, begging for his life. "Please… Vincent… lets be civilized about this…" Yuri begged, tears emerging from his tightly closed eyes.

"I lost my arm for confronting Hojo," Vincent told him, ignoring his pleas. "What should you lose for basically killing him?"

"Please no!" Yuri sobbed. "Don't kill me! Don't hurt me! Please!"

"You're pathetic," Vincent told him in a cold, serious tone. Yuri then slowly opened his eyes and looked back at Vincent. Vincent wasn't sure what the scientist saw, but for some reason Yuri seemed to think he could use whatever it was to his advantage, deciding to completely reverse his position. He wouldn't be a sniveling sobbing poor excuse for a human being. No. No, he refused. Hojo had taught him to be strong and do whatever it takes for what he believed in and he believed in Hojo and he knew that, to protect his mentor, he would have to fight Vincent as much as he could. And seeing as how he wouldn't last two seconds in a physical fight against the gunslinger, he would have to use his most powerful muscle. "Where's Lucrecia?" Vincent then asked.

"She's dead," Yuri told him, hoping that this wouldn't push the gunslinger over the edge just yet. He needed more time to manipulate Valentine.

Vincent closed his eyes for a moment. He had failed her, but now he couldn't think of that, he had to focus on his newest task. "Thank you…" Vincent finally managed to say and then snapped his eyes open, which made the scientist flinch. "Now your purpose for me is through."

Just as Vincent was about to pull the trigger, Yuri spoke. "And what do you intend to do now? Go after him? In the state you're in, you'll never make it there."

This was good information and Vincent felt that he should press on. Through all these battles, he could sense new powers within himself. Now he could get his answers and he felt that he had to know them. "Why?" Vincent asked. "I managed to get through all your guards, why will I never make it to Hojo?"

Inwardly, Yuri smiled. He knew that this was his opportunity to put Vincent in his place and, perhaps best of all, the truth will do. "Because, you're a monster," Yuri told the gunslinger with a grin. "Your old comrade, John, said that no one could survive everything that you did, and he's partially right. No _human_ could survive. You did, Vincent, but only because you aren't human. You are a monster. All these fights you've been through should be proof, if you need it. You are nothing more than a bloodthirsty demon, Valentine. If you live, you'll be nothing more than another ache on an already pained society."

Vincent blinked and thought that the scientist may be speaking the truth. No human could possibly survive all the trials that he had been up against throughout this day. He then thought back to his battle against his two former underlings, at the time he didn't give it a moments thought, but now he realized what he had done. He transformed into a monster and hadn't simply killed them but brutally _slaughtered_ them.

"You would do the exact opposite that you want," Yuri warned the former Turk leader. "Before you could ever get near Hojo you'll end up butchering everyone, destroying whole towns. Ruining more lives than Hojo ever could have dreamed of."

Vincent didn't move or say anything, merely let these words go through his head. He considered the possibility that Yuri was lying, which was very high since he undoubtedly would be trying to protect Hojo, but he didn't think the scientist was. Looking at all the things he had done, he felt that what his foe was saying was extremely likely to be the truth.

"So what will you do, demon?" asked the scientist with a cocky grin.

Vincent looked at Yuri and saw the grin on his face. _The scientist thinks he won_, Vincent thought. _He thinks, telling me this, that he will live._

"Perhaps you're right," Vincent calmly and slowly spoke, putting his gun into the elastic band of his boxers, standing and turning, facing the town. Yuri smiled, certain he had defeated Vincent by using merely words. Manipulation was a very powerful tool, and Yuri was hoping that it had truly worked here with Vincent. Now, if he could just hurry down to Nibelheim and heal his gunshot wound, he would be able to make it to Midgar to rejoin his mentor.

Suddenly, Vincent spun around and aimed his handgun directly between the Wutain's eyes. Instantly, his grin vanished, as well as any thoughts of surviving the day. "But that doesn't mean you'll live, Kamagatchi," Vincent growled.

So many things flew through the scientist's mind then. His whole life seemed to flash before his eyes, his betrayal to his people, all those he had personally killed, all the people he had captured for Hojo, all the dirty work he had done for Hojo, all the things he had done… for Hojo. Just before Vincent pulled the trigger, the scientist realized that he had been nothing but a puppet for Hojo.

The deed done, Vincent stood and stepped into the mansion. There was still a fire blazing and, with all the dry wood in this mansion, it would probably burn the whole place down. _Possibly for the better_, Vincent mused. _With all the horrible things that had happened here, perhaps it would be better burnt to the ground_.

Vincent ignored the fire for now and glanced around, seeing the two halves of John, his former comrade and _friend_, in the separate areas of the room. He glanced into a fire and saw the burning corpse of Danielle, a woman he had once had a short relationship with a few of years back. _Both these people had gotten what they deserved_, Vincent thought then. A Turk was a horrible human being, nearly a monster themselves. Killing people they didn't even know for pay was not a good way to make a living. _But did I? Was I right… to give these people what they deserved?_ Vincent continued to ponder, then wondered up the steps and saw the mostly destroyed hallway and the fallen body of the first class SOLDIER. _Am I worthy to give Hojo what _he_ deserves?_

Vincent stepped back into the main hall at the top of the stairs, looking down at the sight he had caused. _What do I deserve?_ Vincent thought then. _I was no different than John or Danielle… No, I was different. I was worse. I killed more people than either of them as a Turk and I… I let Lucrecia die. I watched every second of it and did… nothing. I am much worse than them… I truly am a monster… Just as Kamagatchi had said… I was a monster before… the only difference is that now my exterior fits my interior…_

Vincent continued to think about these things as he stepped into the room opposite of the hallway with the fallen SOLDIER. This was their weaponry room, where the Turks and few SOLDIERs had kept whatever destructive devices they needed. He wasn't surprised to see that it was completely void of any weapons, figuring that Hojo wouldn't want him to have any advantage over his men in the same way that the SOLDIERs had no potions.

Vincent, however, had a personal stash of materia which he had only told of to Lucrecia. He stepped up to the far wall to a chair, he lifted up a cushion and saw all his mastered materia there. He had a fire, ice, lightning, earth, and destruct materia there, however, he only needed one. He picked up the ice materia and stepped back to the top of the staircase, then cast the Ice 3 spell on the fires, which quickly melted and extinguished the flames. That done, he dropped the materia and let it fall down the steps to the landing at the bottom.

Vincent watched the materia descend down the steps as he thought about what he could do. Even if he was worthy of delivering punishment, would going after Hojo really make him a good person? He thought not. Hojo undoubtedly deserved death, one much more gruesome and horrible than the one that John, Danielle, and Yuri had received, but that wouldn't make Vincent a good person. Killing doesn't make you good.

Also, Vincent mused, if he were to go after Hojo, what if what Yuri said would come true? Attempting to redeem himself by killing Hojo only to kill innocent people… he would be no better than Hojo. Vincent knew what he had to do. He had to atone. For his life as a Turk, for obeying any order, despite what he personally felt, for killing countless people, but, far above all, for betraying Lucrecia… he needed to atone.

Vincent knew what he would do. Killing himself wouldn't resolve anything… but putting himself away would. Vincent turned away from the steps and went down to the secret basement of the mansion. He walked halfway down the dim hallway then turned and stepped into the small room there. In this room, there were dozens of books scattered across the room, skeletons littered around, three coffins, and a small package on the ground in front of him. This room was a trash room for Hojo.

The skeletons were all test subjects for Hojo, although Vincent didn't know what for, he did know that the scientist needed to dispose of bodies and used this room to do it, even though it was once a nice library. One thing Vincent did know was that the box hadn't been there before, it was fresh and, unlike everything else in the room, was dustless. There was a small card on the box, which Vincent lifted up and opened.

_Valentine's New Attire_, it read.

Vincent tossed the card to the ground and opened the box, and saw his future attire. He knew, of course, where the clothing had come from. Hojo had always studied the past and, several years ago, there was an extremely powerful assassin. The assassin was heartless and merciless, slaughtering countless people for a number of reasons: pay, vengeance, or for the pure sick joy of it. The assassin was known worldwide and several were convinced that he wasn't human, but a monster, since he had particularly sick ways of disposing of people. Eventually, he was discovered and went down in a hail of gunfire.

The clothes were a joke, Vincent knew, that Hojo had played on him. Dispite that, Vincent felt that the clothes had fit him well. His thoughts this day was proof that Vincent was heartless and merciless. These clothes would be just one more thing that reminded Vincent that he wasn't human, but a monster. A part of Vincent was enraged by this, but he let it subside and put on the clothes. _I need to always remember that I'm not human_, Vincent thought as he dressed himself. _I'm… a monster._

After dressing, Vincent walked up to the center coffin and lifted the lid, unsurprised to find it empty. Hojo had placed this here for him as well. Whether it was for Vincent in case he died during the experiments or if Hojo had predicted all of this, he wasn't sure, but he knew it was as good a place as any to atone.

Before his atonement, however, Vincent decided that he wouldn't be bothered. He turned and locked the door. There was a key for it somewhere but he wasn't sure where, since Hojo had kept it on him at all times. Then Vincent turned and stepped into the coffin, put on the lid, and closed his eyes, accepting his dues to atone.

In his final moments before finally succumbing to the weariness of his short day, Vincent thought, _Rest in peace, Vincent Valentine… here lies the Monster Vincent Valentine. _

* * *

Anyway, I wrote this story a while ago and I've wanted to put it somewhere. I was thinking about putting it in as a one shot, but when I started to write this story, I thought it would fit better hereSome things in this story come later in the story too. 

So, tell me what you think!


	6. Vincent's Recovery

Hey, thanks for coming back!

Once your finished, remember to please REVIEW!!!

Chapter Six: Vincent's Recovery

* * *

"How is he?!" Cloud asked, charging into the room, as well as the rest group, after what seemed like an eternity. 

"I dunno," Tifa told them, trying not to seem as sad as she actually was. "I think he's getting better, but I'm not sure… He's having a nightmare…"

"Lucrecia…" Vincent muttered once again, this was the word he muttered the most, which made Tifa really wonder who Lucrecia is. She remembered him mentioning saying Lucrecia was Sephiroth's birth mother, but what would that mean to him? Sweat was beading down his forehead, and Tifa used a moist towel to whip it off, he had been sweating almost non-stop and he has a terrible fever, unfortunately Tifa had no idea what to do, which made her feel even more useless.

"Why did you two stay back?!" Barret demanded. "What the hell's wrong wit ya?!"

"I didn't catch the plane, I was too far away," Tifa said, keep her eyes on the muttering Vincent. "Vincent… he stayed back to help me… I would have died if it wasn't for him… and now he might die…"

Tifa suddenly felt like crying, as if she had just fully understood what had happened. Vincent could have escaped and would have been just fine, but instead he stayed back and saved her life, and nearly (and still might) lose his. She struggled to hold back tears, but a few fell regardless, which she wiped quickly away, hoping no one would notice, but most of them did.

"Oh…" Barret muttered, feeling like a jerk for being so cruel.

"I see," Cloud muttered, feeling foolish for not noticing one of his teammates being left behind.

"Tifa, are you all right?" Aeris asking, noticing some wounds on her. However, she was more worried about Tifa's emotional state than her physical one.

"Yeah," Tifa croaked, keeping her eyes on Vincent, still struggling with tears. "I'm perfectly fine…"

"Ok, good," Aeris replied, then glanced at Cloud, then back at Tifa. "Um, it's kind of late…"

"Yeah," Cloud agreed. "Tifa, do you want us to stay with you and Vincent?"

"No, it's alright," Tifa told them, looking up at them and showing them a fake smile. "You guys go rent a room, I'll sleep in this one."

Tifa really wanted them to leave, she refused to let them see her cry. She had always hated it when people seen her cry, mostly because she was a warrior, and warriors were not supposed to cry. Crying is a sign of weakness, and she didn't want anyone to see her in such a weak state.

"Alright," Cloud replied, stepping out of the room, then looking back one last time at her. "Goodnight, Tifa, and if something happens during the night, be sure to wake us up, all right?"

Tifa nodded in response as they all left, saying their goodnights to her and wishing the best for Vincent. Tifa felt terribly sad for Vincent, not only did he have some sort of terrible past, and is in extreme pain, but it seemed like no one cares about him, except for herself. He was all alone in his life, he was always away from the rest of the group and silent, only talking when he had to. She felt terrible for Vincent, this man who was robbed of so many things in his life. The only thing she could do now was just be by his side and help him however she could.

* * *

Vincent awoke in total darkness. Pain blared everywhere, especially in his chest and stomach, even breathing hurt him more than he could ever remember. For a brief moment, he thought his nightmare was a reality once again and he was back in the coffin, but then he remembered AVALANCHE. _What happened?_ Vincent thought, however, his memory betrayed him, he simply couldn't remember anything after they arrived in Rocket Town. 

Just then, Vincent realized that there was someone else in the room, and he moved slightly on his side to see who it was. This action caused him incredible pain, however, at the moment, he didn't care, he had to know where he was and what had happened. He was prepared to leap up and murder whoever was there, no matter how much his body would ache. If he was in the hands of Shinra, he couldn't simply sit there and allow them to do whatever their scientists wanted to do to him.

He would rather die than let that happen to him again, and for all he knew; this would be his last time conscious before the scientists finished with him. He was prepared to die right here and now, in fact, if he even manages to kill whoever was standing there, he might take his own life afterwards, if it came to that. He didn't want to live in the arms of Shinra once more; he didn't want to spend another thirty years in a coffin. He was prepared to die, welcome whatever lied afterwards, whatever it was had to be better than his current existence.

However, instead of seeing a Shinra soldier, he saw the beautiful martial artist, Tifa. Suddenly, all his memory seemed to flood back into his mind, he was about to jump onto an airplane with the rest of the team, however, he stayed back because… because… _She was in trouble…_ Vincent thought. _I stayed back because she was… in trouble…_ _All this pain I welcomed to protect her… … … Perhaps… This is part of my atonement… Yes, I must protect her, as well as this team, and… defeat Sephiroth…_

Vincent was about to lie back down, when suddenly Tifa sprang awake, looking a little frightened at first, and then looked down at Vincent. "Vincent!" Tifa exclaimed, and tackled him with a hug. However, the pain exploded in his stomach and chest, and Vincent loudly groaned and Tifa took the hint, let go of him, looking away, slightly blushing, "Sorry…"

"It's all right," Vincent replied, though actually, he greatly disliked her action. Not simply because of the extraordinary pain that burst when she tackled him, but also because she had invaded his personal space. Vincent could settle with people joking or bothering him, but he absolutely despised it when people invaded his personal space. _But…_ Vincent wondered. _Why would she ever hug a monster like me? I… do not deserve such comfort…_

"How are you feeling?" Tifa asked, worry truly in her voice, which Vincent knew he didn't deserve.

"I'm fine," Vincent lied.

"Alright…" Tifa replied, looking down, feeling completely rejected by the ex-Turk. "I just wanted to make sure… I… you saved me…"

"Nonsense," Vincent reassured her. "Anyone else would have done the very same had they been in the same situation."

"But… they didn't…" Tifa replied, looking away from Vincent, suddenly feeling completely rejected by everyone. Tifa had seen them; any one of them could have jumped off that plane and helped her, she was especially hoping Cloud would save her. But she had seen what Cloud was doing, he was holding hard onto Aeris, making sure that _she_ was alright. "So really," Tifa said, taking a deep breath and looking back at Vincent, showing a fake smile. "Thank you, Vincent."

"Such praise…" Vincent muttered softly. "I… I am not worthy…"

"What?" Tifa asked, somewhat having to refrain from laughing at his strange speech. "Of course you are! You saved my life!"

"…" Vincent was silent and lied back down, closing his crimson eyes. "One good deed doesn't not make up for a lifetime of sins. No matter what I do, I will forever be… a monster… I am not worthy of any praise from yourself, Tifa."

"What?!" Tifa exclaimed. "You're not a monster!"

"…" Vincent was silent, he instantly regretted saying the truth, however, she surely knew the truth, she, as well as everyone else, must know that he honestly is a monster.

"You… You don't honestly believe that…" Tifa softly said, again feeling on the verge of tears. Did he honestly believe that, even after saving her life, he was a monster?

"…" Vincent was still silent but he opened his eyes, his crimson eyes going to her honey brown ones.

They both were silent for a moment, both basking in each other's eyes. Vincent couldn't believe what he was seeing inside the beautiful woman's eyes, what he saw was something he never thought he would see every again towards himself… worry. _Is it possible that she…_ Vincent began to think, but then instantly pushed the idea out of his head. _No… No one could care for a monster like myself…_

"Oh, Vincent," Tifa muttered, taking his hand in her own. "You're not a monster… You're a hero, you're my hero."

"No, I am not," Vincent sternly replied, taking his hand out of her grasp then rolled on his side, despite how much pain it caused, he could no longer stand the way she looked at her, for he doesn't deserve such care, such honest worry. "I am no one's hero… I am as I always was… … … a monster…"

"Vincent…" Tifa murmured just before Vincent closed his eyes, ending their conversation.

* * *

Vincent was still awake long after Tifa had fallen asleep on the chair she had been sitting on next to his bed. The pain was much greater than he would ever let show to these people, much greater than he could probably ever show, especially after thirty years inside that cursed coffin. Even before the coffin he could never show his true self, he would instead keep his emotions bottled up inside, until eventually he could actually show his emotion to someone, when he expressed his love for Lucrecia. However, it was that very emotion that had led him to his damnation, his emotions had run rampant and taken complete control of him. 

He could never let that happen again. He glanced down at Tifa, the only member of the group who even decided to stay by his side during this hard night. He couldn't allow this woman to get close to a monster like himself, he could see behind her false smile and happiness, he knew that inside this woman was suffering more than enough, he wouldn't allow her to suffer even more due to his presence.

However, fortunately for him, it seemed that what happened long ago will never happen again. During the thirty years of imprisonment within that damned coffin it seems all his emotions had died away. He didn't care about anything, the only pain he could feel was purely physical, he didn't care about anything.

_But if that were true_, a part of Vincent thought, _why did you stay back to help Tifa?_

Vincent glanced at the young woman who was sleeping at his side. _She never left once…_ Vincent thought, this he had known, as he had been awake during the entire time while she had thought he was sleeping. _Didn't even seem to think about it… She simply silently sat there and watched me, making sure I was all right…_

_It seems she cares about you_, a part of Vincent thought.

_Nonsense_, Vincent reassured himself. _I merely helped her… she must feel that she owes me for the help…_

_Or, perhaps she cares about you_, this strange part of Vincent insisted. _Perhaps she sees the man behind the monster._

_There is no man behind the monster, it is only monster_, Vincent told himself. _The Man Vincent Valentine had died thirty years ago, now, the being that exists here, is the Monster Vincent Valentine_.

I wouldn't be so sure… 

By this point, Vincent's headache was pounding much more than it previously had been. All this thought about himself and the monster that he is now had only intensified the blaring pain in his skull. _Silence_, Vincent told himself.

* * *

He tried to stand, and found that this task was considerably more painful than he had suspected. His leg muscles ached with the weight that was suddenly put on them, and so he had to lean against his bed until his muscles could adjust. He didn't know where he would go, but all he knew was that he wanted to leave, and he wasn't sure if he would come back or not. His thoughts about Tifa and himself being a burden upon the group had gotten to him gravely, for he was beginning to think that he would ruin everything again, this time condemning the world to whatever it is Sephiroth wants. And Sephiroth was one wrong that he absolutely had to right. 

Vincent then shifted his weight off of the bed, relying completely on his legs. Once again, the wounded muscles blared in protest against the weight, however, he discovered that it was easily bearable compared to the countless other injuries he had suffered. Next, his task was to walk out of the inn and to wherever it is that he decided; all he knew is that he didn't want to be here any longer.

He took his first painful step, then halted for a moment, reconsidering if it was even worth it. Then he thought of something that might have been able to help, though he wasn't sure how much it would at this point. He summoned his materia to cast a cure spell on himself, and was surprised that it did slightly help. He repeated this procedure a couple more times and found that it was much easier to walk, however, he could feel that the pain was slowly coming back, but it shouldn't be unbearable at least until he got out of the inn.

Vincent opened his door quietly and closed it in the same fashion, and was glad to discover that his room was on the first floor, so that he wouldn't have to struggle going down any steps. "Hey, mister!" exclaimed a young woman behind the counter. "Aren't you that sick guy?"

Vincent didn't answer instead just ignored her and casually walked out, or at least as casually as he could. He could feel the pain start coming back and before long he had to walk with a limp. Once Vincent was out of the inn, he leaned against the wall of the building, and once again began to reconsider going back inside, and rest until he was a little better, maybe only until noon tomorrow, and then leave them. _No_, Vincent thought to himself. _I've burdened them enough with my existence… no need to force them to waste their time for me._

Vincent used another cure spell on himself and then managed to walk away a little further, however, instead of going out the ordinary way, he went out between the inn and the bordering home. He went a little ways away and then rested against a tree and collapsed, then rested his head against the tree and closed his eyes. _One more night_, Vincent thought. _One more day and I'll be ready to hunt Sephiroth. I work much better alone anyway, I wouldn't be in this situation if I had been alone._

_Which once again raises the question_, that strange part of himself thought. _If you truly were a monster, and had no feelings, why did you stay behind and risk your life for young Miss Lockhart?_

_Silence,_ Vincent demanded to himself. _I wish not to think of it… I just want to sleep._

_Just want to sleep?_ he asked himself. _Sounds like you haven't changed at all; sleep won't help __**your**__ problems._

_Just for now_, Vincent bargained with himself. _Just for a couple hours, give me a couple more hours of recovery…_

_I suppose… _that strange part of himself said, then retreated into the back of his mind yet again.

Vincent cleared his mind; thinking of this would only cause him more problems, even more than he all ready had. Vincent then slept, however, he wouldn't sleep for long.

* * *

Tifa slowly awoke just as the sun was beginning to rise, making the sky a beautiful reddish-orange. _Morning already?_ Tifa thought, then turned to the bed Vincent was sleeping in. 

"Oh my god!" Tifa exclaimed the instant she saw that Vincent wasn't lying in his bed. "Vincent?!" She called, wondering if he was in the bathroom or something, but when there was no reply, she dashed out of her room and into Cloud's. "Cloud, Vincent's-" she started when she was surprised to discover there was no one in the room, but she saw two people out on the balcony.

Tifa was about to walk out there and tell Cloud the news, until she saw who the other person was, and what they were doing. The man was, of course, Cloud, and the other was… Aeris. Tifa watched as Cloud swiftly wrapped his arm around her waist, and then Aeris looked up at him, and Cloud looked down at her. She watched as they stared into each other's eyes, and then slowly inched together, until their lips finally locked into a passionate kiss.

Tifa covered her mouth to muffle her sobs, and then dashed out of her room and quickly wiped her eyes. "Cloud…" she mumbled and she quickly dried her eyes. _Not now…_ Tifa thought, thinking frantically. _Vincent's missing! And in his condition, who knows what could happen? I can worry about this later, first I have to find Vincent…_

Tifa then turned back but instead of going into Cloud's room, she went into Barret's, and discovered that he was sharing a room with Cait Sith, and she exclaimed: "Barret! Cait Sith! Vincent's missing!"

"What?!" Barret exclaimed, jumping up from his spot. She glanced over him, wearing nothing but his muscle shirt and some boxers, and noticed that he had repaired his gun-arm. "He's missing?!"

"Yeah!" Tifa cried. "Get dressed, I'll tell Yuffie and Red XIII!"

"Aight!" Barret exclaimed, dashing over to his things.

Tifa then ran out of the room and into Yuffie's and Red XIII's. "Guys wake up!" Tifa cried.

"What is it…?" Yuffie groggily mumbled, looking at the clock on her nightstand. "Tifa, its 6:20 AM!"

"Vincent's missing!" Tifa exclaimed, instantly making Yuffie's protest falter.

"Vincent's gone?" Red XIII asked, standing on all four legs. "In his condition, he couldn't have gotten too far, that is unless the Turks snuck back and captured him."

"No!" Tifa exclaimed in disbelief. "Vincent would never let that happen!"

"Tifa, he was very weak," Red XIII reasoned, although he knew Tifa was in no state to listen to reasoning. "In his condition, I would be surprised if he could even move, much less fight."

"But, you didn't see him yesterday!" Tifa exclaimed. "He fought so powerfully… he was like… like…" _a guardian angel_, Tifa thought.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter," Red XIII said, stepping out of bed and Yuffie already wielding her boomerang.

"Red XIII, you go get Cloud and Aeris," Tifa commanded. "I'm gonna go out and look for Vincent, Cloud can tell you guys what to do."

"Alright!" Yuffie exclaimed, follow Red XIII into Cloud's and Aeris's room, while Tifa ran to the entrance of the inn, and saw a young woman working at the counter.

"Did you see the man I was with yesterday come through here?!" Tifa cried at the person, realizing how hysterical she sounded, and then slightly calmed down. "Remember him? He was really injured!"

"Yeah, he did," the woman told him. "He must have recovered pretty quickly, because he was able to limp out of here."

"Do you know where he went?!" Tifa exclaimed.

"No," the woman shook her head. "Sorry, but I asked him, because I was kinda worried too, ya know, but he didn't say anything."

"All right…" Tifa said, looking down, feeling incredibly stupid for not taking good enough care of Vincent and allowing him to leave so easily. "Thanks anyway."

Tifa then hurried outside, and looked hurriedly around the town center, but didn't see him. _Red XIII was right, Vincent couldn't have gotten very far_, Tifa thought, her mind racing to think of the most logical place the gunslinger would hide. _But he's not an idiot, he would hide somewhere… somewhere out of sight and where he wouldn't draw attention…_

Tifa then remembered that she and her team hid in an alleyways the previous day and that worked pretty well. So first, she decided that she would check alleyways. First, she checked between the inn and a bordering home, didn't see anything right away and was just about to continue running, but then she instantly stopped, and then looked again. He wasn't hiding between the inn and the home, but further down, she could see him leaning against a tree.

"Vincent!" she cried, and then ran for Vincent.

* * *

"_Vincent!" _some shouted, taking him out of his dream… or rather nightmare. 

Vincent's hand instantly reached for his gun and tore it out of the holster, and, before even seeing the person, aimed directly at the shouter, and then his crimson eyes shot open.

However, not even the gun frightened the shouter, and the person tackled him, and for the first second he thought that this person was trying to kill him and almost grabbed her by the neck with his bronze claw. But then he could smell the attacker's hair, and it smelled like strawberries, then looked down and saw that it was Tifa, and then dropped his claw and reholstered his gun before she seemed to notice.

Then Tifa let go of him, remembering that he was severally injured in his stomach and chest, and mumbled, "Sorry…"

"It's all right," Vincent replied in his usual uncaring tone. He actually felt glad that she had embraced him like that… wait what? _You care about her_, said that unknown part of his mind. _Deny it all you want, you know it's true._

_Silence_, Vincent mentally hissed. "What are you doing here?" asked the injured man, though his injuries seemed much better than before.

"I was looking for you!" Tifa exclaimed and then looked like she was about to hug him again, but stopped herself.

"…" Vincent was clearly perplexed, it even slightly showed on his face. "Why?"

"What?! I was worried about you, of course!"

"… Don't be…"

"But, I am…" Tifa muttered, looking down. "I'm sorry, I know you want to be alone, but…"

"Don't worry about me," Vincent told her. "I wish to go on alone, if that's all right with you."

"No!" Tifa exclaimed. "I mean, you saved me last night… I don't want you to leave…"

"Why?" Vincent retorted. "I'm only causing your team to halt their journey even more. Besides, I work much better alone."

"I guess, but…" Tifa muttered, looking down. She could feel water starting to swell up in her eyes, but she didn't know why, she barely knew him, it's not like she… loved him… "If it wasn't for you, I would be dead…"

"…" Vincent looked into her lovely, honey brown eyes. _She is beautiful…_ Vincent thought.

_See, even you can't deny that you care about her._

_She's beautiful, that doesn't mean I care about her. I care for no one._

_Yes, yes, of course. No one._

_That is correct._

"I…" Tifa said, then instantly correct herself. "We need you, Vincent."

"No you don't," Vincent reassured her. "I will only cause you more pain. All around me suffer."

"No, that's not true, Vincent!" Tifa exclaimed. "How could you even think that?!"

"I am a monster, Tifa," Vincent told her in his strict, cold voice. "I can not cause happiness… only pain…"

"Vincent, please don't say that," Tifa told him, looking into his hauntingly beautiful crimson eyes, and grasping his human hand. "It isn't the truth, and you know it."

_What is it with her and taking my hand?_ Vincent asked himself.

_It's because she cares about you, Vincent_, that mysterious part of him told himself. _She thinks of you as a friend, play your cards right and you could be even more._

_Nonsense_, Vincent immediately told himself. _If she gets any closer she will see me for the monster that I truly am. Besides, I won't allow her to get any closer._

_You're always putting barriers in front of yourself. If you want to feel any better for yourself, you have to ask for help, and she definitely seems like someone who would listen._

_I'm not going to tell them anything. Once, if we defeat Sephiroth and Shinra, then I'll leave them._

_I thought you were leaving them now._

…

"…" Vincent was silent, and then realized that he must have been looking into her eyes for at least a good minute now as he argued inwardly with himself. "Why Tifa? Why do you want me to stay?"

"Because you…" Tifa murmured. _Because you what? Because you are incredibly handsome? Because I want to help you? Because I want to love you?_ all these went through Tifa's mind, but then she came up with the lamest of them all. "You're my friend. And I care about you."

Vincent, then remembering that his hand was still in her grasp, he could feel her beautiful heat warm his cold hand, and tore his hand away. He knew he didn't deserve it. "Well don't," Vincent concluded, standing from his spot with some struggle, but not nearly as much as he had struggled the previous night, and then turned away from her.

"Vincent please," Tifa told him, her eyes starting to become watery. "Please… don't leave…"

"Tifa…" Vincent spoke, looking into her eyes for a moment then being unable to stand the look and turned his gaze to his boots.

"Please," Tifa told him, almost begging. "I want to help you."

Vincent then slowly returned his look into her moist, though still very beautiful, eyes and said, "You have many problems yourself, Tifa."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Tifa asked, taking a defensive step back.

"You put up barriers that may fool the others," Vincent told her, staring her down with his cold, red eyes. "But not me. I can see right through them. I can see how much you are suffering whenever you see Cloud and Aeris together."

"I know, but…" Tifa muttered. "I…"

"I shall stay," Vincent then told her. "But let's ask how your teammates feel first."

"Really?!" Tifa exclaimed, looking up into her eyes with hope, however, his eyes were completely unchanged, even by the glee in her eyes and voice. His eyes were hauntingly beautiful, but cold and emotionless nonetheless.

"As long as your teammates agree," Vincent concluded.

"Thanks!" Tifa exclaimed, then turned back towards the inn, however, she saw the rest of the team all ready walking towards them, Barret and Red XIII in the lead, and then, directly behind them… … … Cloud and Aeris, with his arm wrapped around Aeris's waist.

Tifa instantly fell silent and looked down at her feet. She took a deep breath (Vincent, of course, noticed all these actions) and looked back up, with a large, false smile on her face. "Jes where were you?!" Barret exclaimed.

"I left," Vincent simply said.

"You seem fully recovered," Cloud told him, putting his arm back to his side, and stepping in front of the others.

"Not fully recovered," Vincent corrected. "But I am close to a full recovery."

"How did you recover so damn fast?!" Barret bellowed at the ex-Turk.

"The Jenova cells within me," Vincent explained. "As well as the countless other chemicals which Hojo injected into me."

"Yeah, Barret, calm down" Aeris commanded to the brute. "Remember, he did just save Tifa's life."

"Yeah, you're right…" Barret grumbled, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess… Thanks Vince…"

The stoic gunslinger nodded. He was surprised that the man had finally accepted him and hoped that the nickname Vince would become more used than the nickname Vinny.

"So why did you leave?" Yuffie asked.

"I was a burden upon the group," Vincent told the young ninja.

"What?" Yuffie asked, completely confused by the statement. "How?"

Vincent crossed his arms and looked away, turning his face to a slight scowl, "It doesn't matter."

"…" the young ninja said nothing, she felt so hurt by Vincent's words, and the way he had given her the cold shoulder. "Umm, alright…"

"Regardless of my reasoning," Vincent said, looking back at the group. "You now can make a decision."

"What is that?" Cloud asked.

"You can all vote," Vincent told them. "If I may stay or if I should go."

"Didn't we all ready do this?" Aeris asked. "Back at the mountains, we all agreed you could come with us, Vincent. And since then you've only proven yourself more of an asset to our team."

"Yeah," Cloud agreed.

"So, you're staying," Tifa told him, then turned to the group. "Right?"

"Yes, naturally," Red XIII told them.

"O' course," Barret agreed.

"All right, he's coming!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Now let's get moving all ready!"

"Wait, lets ask Cid if we can use the Tiny Bronco as a ship," Cloud told them. "Seeing as how it's pretty unusable as it is now anyway."

"Oh yeah," said Tifa, remembering that she had no idea what happened to the plane. "What did happen after you guys left yesterday?"

"Our plane was shot down," Cloud told Tifa and Vincent. "One of the Turks must of shot the engine just right, but fortunately we crashed into the water, so we were all ok. And once we realized you two weren't with us, we all ran back."

"N' now we're gonna go ask Cid if we can keep da ship," Barret told them. "He can't use it anyways."

"Well, shall we go then?" Red XIII suggested.

"Yeah," Cloud nodded, then spun around and led the group back towards town, of course, with Aeris by his side.

Tifa's false smile instantly turned into a frown once everyone turned around and headed off, however, she didn't seem to realize that Vincent was still there. The minute she could feel his crimson eyes on her, she turned, slightly confused, then deeply blushed, and smiled. Vincent, not saying anything, simply turned away from her and followed the rest of the team towards the town, and an embarrassed Tifa followed.

* * *

"-And so we were wondering if we could use the Tiny Bronco," Cloud finished his fairly short explanation. 

"And just who the hell do you think will be operating that thing?!" Cid exclaimed angrily. "You?! Hell no! You need an experienced pilot! If you're takin' my baby, you're takin' me too!"

Cloud turned and looked at the group, and then asked: "What do you think guys?"

Vincent, who was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest, was, surprisingly, the first to speak up, "Do whatever you wish."

"Yeah he can come!" Yuffie then shouted. "Whatever, let's just go!"

"Alright," Cloud said with a smile on his face. "Let's go then!"

"Good," Cid grinned. "I've been wantin' to get back at Shinra now for a while. And I've been dyin' to use my spear, it's been quite a while," Cid told them, picking up a spear which was leaning against the wall. "It may take me a little while to warm up, but you can trust me, I'm good as hell!"

"Good," Cloud said, turning to the door. "Let's go, guys."

The team left the house, they all seemed anxious to get out of the town. This, however, didn't surprise Vincent the least bit, when he was working as a Turk, he had to travel all the time and when he had to stay in a town for a while, he often got restless and bored of the place, and he imagined the team must be reacting the same way.

"So, the Temple of the Ancients, right Cid?" Cloud asked.

"Damn straight," Cid smirked.

"The Temple of the Ancients…" Aeris said with a slight chill going down her spine. "I don't like the sound of that…"

Cloud wrapped his arm across her shoulders and brought her closer to him, "It's alright Aeris, I'll make sure nothing bad happens."

Aeris looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you, Cloud…"

For a second, Tifa was convinced that they were going to kiss, but then, thankfully, Cid spoke up and said, "Oh yeah, that reminds me!"

"What is it?" Cloud said, breaking his gaze on Aeris to look at the pilot.

"That damn kid president said somethin' about them needin' a key to get in," Cid told him.

"A key…?" Cloud wondered, thinking where they could possibly find a key for the temple.

"Maybe there's some sort of dealer who owns one," Red XIII suggested.

"Oh yeah!" Yuffie jumped excitedly in the air. "I remember! There was a weapons dealer near Gongaga! He had a whole bunch of weird crap!"

"Gongaga, huh?" Cid muttered, seeming to calculate the distance in his head.

"How long do you think it'll take, Cid?" Cloud asked.

"Uhh… well I ain't too sure how well the ship'll work…" Cid said, still thinking in his head. "But I'd say about… three days… certainly no more than four."

"Three days at sea?!?!" Yuffie cried. "Oh man…"

Vincent raised an eyebrow that Tifa noticed, so she clarified, "Yuffie has really bad motion sickness."

"I see…" Vincent murmured, making a mental note to avoid Yuffie, more than he usually would at least.

"Well, guys," Cloud said, looking bravely towards the barely visible ocean on the horizon. "Let's mosey."

* * *

Another chapter finally finished! 

PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	7. The Road to the Key

Hey, thanks for coming back!

I hope you enjoy the chapter, and be sure to review once your finished!!!

Chapter Seven: The Road to the Key

* * *

It didn't take them too long to reach the Tiny Bronco, however, it took long enough for Vincent to feel increasing pain in his legs from the previous day's events. However, he never voiced or showed that his legs were bothering him, he had no need to slow the group for such a petty request, besides soon he would be sitting on the airship for hours.

Tifa, unlike Vincent, was not looking forward to traveling on the airship at all. She knew exactly what would happen, Cid would be piloting the ship, therefore, Cloud and Aeris wouldn't have to do anything. So, those two would probably sit next to each other, holding hands and possibly kissing, and talk about how they loved each other.

Tifa looked over to Vincent and thought that maybe she could sit next to him. Maybe, she could even talk to him, although, he doesn't seem like the type of person who would care to listen, much less give advice of any type, at least not more advice than he already had, but she would at least be able to tell _someone_.

_Why wouldn't he listen?_ Tifa thought. _I mean, he did just almost die for me, shot multiple times in the stomach and once in the chest, all to protect me._

_He… he just doesn't seem to be the type who would care… _Tifa told herself. _It doesn't seem like he cares about much of anything… … … except Lucrecia… and for killing Hojo…_

_Doesn't care about anything_, she thought to herself. _That sounds like…a monster, but he's not a monster, not at all. He has to care about us, at least somewhat._

"Finally!" Cid exclaimed once they were at the ocean edge, next to the ship. "I was gettin' sick of not seein' my baby!"

The ship was much bigger than she imagined, it seemed that each wing of the ship could almost fit the entire group. She thought this with some happiness, as she was worried it might get cramped onboard, however, then she realized that this would give Cloud and Aeris more room to be alone, and frowned. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for them, it wasn't like Aeris still wasn't her best friend and Cloud wasn't still her leader and oldest living friend. It's just that she just wanted Cloud for herself, but, she supposed, he was with Aeris, and if he didn't want her, well… then… she was just out of luck.

Besides, Tifa didn't want to risk a division in the group by trying to steal Cloud from Aeris. No, Tifa supposed she would just have to sit back and… watch Aeris and Cloud be together. She would be happy for them, of course, but at the sacrifice of herself.

All she can do is… watch.

"How long is this supposed to take?" Yuffie uneasily asked, clearly disappointed about getting onto the plane.

"Assumin' she even works…" Cid muttered, calculating in his head. "I'd guess 'bout three days."

* * *

As they all boarded the airship, Vincent sat at the far end of the right wing, hoping to be away from the rest of the group. He wished to be alone. He always wanted to be alone permanently; however, he felt that he needed to work with this team to take care of Sephiroth. Sephiroth's creation was his fault, Lucrecia's demise was his fault, and so many other things were his fault too… he simply had to make amends. 

Once the team took care of Sephiroth, then he would go after Hojo. Once Hojo was taken care of… then, well… who knows?

"Vincent?" a woman asked from behind him.

Vincent turned to look at her, but he didn't need to, as he already knew who it would be. "Yes, Tifa?"

Tifa glanced around on the airship and, although it was fairly large, it wasn't quite as big as she had originally thought. Most of the team had sat near the center or on the left wing, Vincent being the furthest away from the group on the right wing and, of course, Cloud and Aeris were together on the far end of the left wing. "Um…" Tifa muttered, she didn't want to sound like she needed to sit away from the group, however, she knew that she truly didn't want to. Some of them (more specifically Yuffie and possibly Barret) would make fun of or comment about Cloud and Aeris and right now she wasn't sure if she could handle that. "Is it alright if I sit next to you?"

"…" Vincent was silent for only a moment. He had hoped to be alone to his thoughts, however, he didn't mind Tifa. Out of the group, she seemed to be the most mature (besides Red XIII), her company would be most desirable than the rest of the group. "Do as you wish…"

"Thanks…" Tifa murmured and sat down.

"Alright!" Cid hollered from the cockpit. "I'm startin' 'er up!"

Cid worked with the machines and a huge blast was heard, and echoed across the skies. "She works!" Cid bellowed as the propellers began to whirl, and the airship pulled away from the beach it was in.

A small cheer was made from the crowd, and then they all seemed to go into their own conversations. Tifa, however, ignored the other and glanced towards Vincent. Vincent was so… mysterious. Every day there seemed to be something new and odd about the strange and very unique (even for this group) man.

"So…" Tifa said, trying to start a conversation. Tifa could easily tell that it wasn't very common that Vincent would talk, and what little he did was usually purely out of seriousness. Tifa had never seen Vincent say anything with any true passion; it was usually just his non-caring tone of voice that he spoke with. "Whose Lucrecia?"

"Lucrecia…" Vincent murmured without looking back towards her. His eyes scanned the seas, thinking of a way to avoid the question without simply saying no. He didn't really care if he hurt her feelings or not, however, she seemed heartbroken over Aeris and Cloud. Although he did not know the past of her, Cloud, and Aeris very well, with his keen eyes it was incredibly easy to see that she was in pain whenever she saw them together. This reminded him oh so well of Lucrecia, Vincent, however, never went for help. Perhaps all she wanted to do was get Cloud off her mind. "How do you know of Lucrecia?"

"Well, you've said her name a couple times…" Tifa answered. "And… last night, you were having a nightmare… something about her and Hojo."

"… I see…" this did not surprise him. Nightmares were very common for a monster like himself. And almost every nightmare involved those two, or the events shortly after the experiments, like last night.

"So, who is she?"

Although he had decided he would try not to do it, he did it anyway; he gave her the cold shoulder. "It does not matter."

"Oh…" Tifa muttered. She cursed herself slightly for bringing it up, but it's not like the guy couldn't say anything about it. She was obviously something in his life; he had said something about that back when they first opened his coffin, but she couldn't remember much of that, it seemed like it was a thousand years ago.

_Just leave him be_, Tifa thought. _He obviously just wants to be left alone…_

"Sorry…" Tifa murmured, then was about to stand and go away, when he, surprisingly responded.

"It's alright," Vincent told her, not turning to her. "I apologize for my rude behavior."

"Oh no," Tifa told him. "It's alright. If you don't want to talk about it, I won't."

"Thank you."

Since he did talk, Tifa decided that she would give one last shot at starting a conversation. This time, deciding to stay away from anything regarding Lucrecia or the past. "I hope we finish off Sephiroth soon," she told him. "I'm getting tired of all this traveling."

"Yes…" Vincent muttered uncaringly. "It must be tiring."

"It… it really is," Tifa said, realizing that he didn't care at all about what she had to say. "You're going to kill Hojo after we defeat Sephiroth, aren't you?"

"Yes," Vincent replied instantly. "It may help me make amends for my sins, besides he deserves the worst for his crimes against humanity."

"Yeah…" Tifa replied, happy that she was actually having a conversation with the stoic gunslinger. "The things he did against mankind… it's terrible. All the things Shinra did against humanity are terrible… That's why I fight, the things they do, the way they are trying to control the people through fear and destroy the planet… it's terrible."

"Yes…" Vincent replied, feeling like a hypocrite for once so willingly doing the awful deeds for the company that this woman hates so much.

"When you go after him," Tifa told him. "I'll help you."

"I'd rather do it myself," Vincent replied, slightly shaking his head. "There's no need to drag you into such things."

"Vincent…" Tifa said with a small smile on her face. "I'm all ready involved with the Shinra. We _all_ are."

"This is between Hojo and myself," Vincent sternly told her. "Although I greatly disagree with Shinra, I have no place to speak."

"No place to speak?!" Tifa exclaimed. "Just yesterday they were trying to kill you, Vincent!"

"They were simply doing their job…" Vincent spoke in his normal, nonchalant voice. "I have no idea what their personal beliefs are."

Tifa blinked for a moment. She never really thought about it like that, but she replied, "Stilly, they willingly did it."

"I too once did something that I disagreed with although still willingly did. I do not believe anyone can honestly say that they perfectly agree with everything that they do."

"That's… that's true…" Tifa mumbled, thinking back to when they were destroying Mako reactors. It was good for the sake of the planet, but it caused a lot of damage and they probably killed people with the explosion, but overall it was for the better.

"And if people deserve death for doing their job, then everyone with a job deserves to die, right?"

"Good point… but you would have killed them if it came to that, wouldn't you?"

"There's a difference between self-defense and a death sentence. I will kill all those who fight to get in my way."

"Well, what about Hojo?" Tifa asked. "Wasn't he just doing his job?"

"I have thought very deeply about this," Vincent told her calmly and knowingly. "Even if Shinra knew about and approved of the creation of Sephiroth, which, as it began, they didn't, I would still have to kill Hojo for it. He agreed with what he was doing, and very likely believed that it was the right thing to do."

"Oh…" Tifa muttered. "So… Shinra didn't know about Sephiroth until… later?"

"The original mission was to study the Jenova sample, not create an offspring. However, after discovering what Hojo was doing, Shinra fully agreed with it and sent him more money for the new operation. However, Hojo did several things that even Shinra didn't know about, nor did they approve of some of the things he did."

"Really? Like what?"

"They only approved of one human test subject… a young scientist. None of the others were approved of."

"One test subject?" Tifa asked. "Who was it? Who were the others?"

"…" Vincent's silence answered all of it. Lucrecia was the young scientist and one of the other test subjects must have been him, it's the only way to make sense of his supernatural skills. That's the only way that she could think that a single former Turk, who had been sleeping for thirty years, could now take on four of them.

"Oh…" Tifa replied, fully understanding now.

"If you wish to return to the others now," Vincent told her, looking out towards the sea. "I understand."

"No, Vincent, it's all right," Tifa said, rubbing his shoulder slightly, then pulling away, knowing that he didn't like to be touched. "Red XIII was a test subject too. So was Aeris, for a short while. It makes no difference, I mean, you're still human and everything."

"…" once again, Vincent's silence said it all. He didn't believe that he truly was human, Tifa had known that for a while now, but how could he possible think such a ridiculous thing?

"Vincent, you _are _human, you know that, right?" Tifa asked with some concern.

Vincent simply kept his eye on the sea and silently whispered, "I don't want to discuss this."

"Oh… I-I'm sorry…" Tifa muttered, instantly regretting bringing it up once again.

"It's all right… you don't understand…"

"Why don't you try explaining it to me?" Tifa asked him, almost begging. "Maybe I could help you?"

"It is pointless… it would only make you think different of me."

"Now, I doubt that."

"You've seen what I can do," Vincent told her, looking her in the eyes with his haunting, blood red eyes. "You've seen me… transform…"

"Yeah, but… you saved us, Vincent," Tifa calmly told him.

"I suppose…" Vincent hardly uttered.

* * *

The first night, Cid stopped outside Nibelheim. Everyone was glad that they were able to stay at the inn at Nibelheim. It was great for them when they are able to spend a single night at an inn but now they get to spend two nights in a row at an inn. 

Everyone ran off to do their own thing. Cloud and Aeris went to the inn to get the rooms for everyone and Barret and Cid instantly ran off to the bar, knowing that tomorrow would be another boring day at sea, so they had a great opportunity for some drinking. Yuffie declared that she was bored out of her mind and needed to stretch out with some fights and was joined by Nanaki, while Cait Sith decided to go straight to bed.

Tifa decided to take a walk around the town. At first she was thinking about going to her old home but decided that this was her day off and didn't need to reminisce about those old days. It felt good to walk around, especially after spending so many hours sitting on that plane.

She walked towards the back of the town, in the direction of the Shinra mansion. Suddenly, she thought she heard a noise behind her and she quickly spun around, however, it was dark out and all she saw was two burning red orbs. She quickly snapped on her gloves and got in a defensive stance when a deep voice said, "It's just me, Tifa."

"Oh," Tifa sighed with relief and put away the gloves. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was going to look around the mansion," Vincent told her. "What about you?"

"Nothing really," Tifa shrugged, then looked up at the mansion. She was still frightened by that mansion but figured she could at least ask if she could go along, it's not like she was doing anything anyways. "Mind if I go with you?"

Vincent shrugged and replied, "If that is what you want."

Tifa nodded and followed Vincent up to the mansion and once they passed the gate, Tifa instantly started getting second thoughts. The last time they had come here it was daylight but now it was night and the whole mansion looked much more towering and frightening. "Why do you want to come here anyways?" Tifa asked, trying to make him change his mind.

"…" Vincent was silent for a moment, then spoke. "A long time ago… I left some powerful materia here. If it's still here I'm sure it would aid us greatly."

"Powerful materia?" Tifa asked, imagining the look on Yuffie's face had she been here to hear that. "What kind of materia is it?"

"Just some common materia," Vincent answered. "However, it's all mastered."

"Oh! Then it'll definitely help!"

"I can only imagine."

Vincent then continued forward and opened the door of the mansion, walking inside fearlessly. Tifa didn't understand how anyone could be so unafraid, but figured that he lived in the place for thirty years and now probably didn't fear anything. Tifa cautiously followed him inside and up the staircase. At the top of the stairs he took a left, walking to the room at the end of the hall, passing the rooms with the beds and the safe.

This room was covered with old dusty boxes and random pieces of furniture. Tifa glanced around and thought, in its time, a lot of these things would have been beautiful, but time had not been its friend. Vincent didn't bother glancing around and walked up to a chair and lifted the cushion, sighed, then put it back down.

"Did you find it?" Tifa asked, although already knew the answer.

"No," Vincent answered then walked past her and back into the hall.

"Did you stay in this room or something?" Tifa asked. She figured this would be the perfect opportunity to learn a little more about his past, but she still wouldn't push him too far.

"No…" Vincent shook his head, he pointed to the room with the beds right next to the room. "I and another Turk stationed here stayed in this room," he then turned back to her, "we just put all our things in that room. Towards the end of my… mission, I hid my materia in that room as well."

"Oh…" Tifa murmured. "Why?"

"I feared someone may try to take it away from me," Vincent answered, turning around and heading back towards the staircase.

Tifa sighed and followed him. _How typical_, Tifa thought. _Vincent answers the question and only brings more questions to mind._

"Who would take it?" Tifa asked as they descended the staircase.

"The other Turk."

"Why?"

"I was a threat to the mission."

"A threat…" Tifa said to herself, trying to think why. "Oh! Because you were against the experiment, right?"

Vincent nodded and continued towards the door of the mansion. Tifa was considering asking more questions about his past but didn't for two reasons; one, he probably wouldn't answer and two, she wanted to get out of the mansion as quickly as possible. Outside, the two started walking back towards the town, Tifa very thankful that they finally left the spooky mansion, however, after a moment; she wished they had stayed back inside.

As the two were silently walking towards the town, she saw Cloud and Aeris standing outside of Cloud's old house and Tifa instantly stopped and frowned. Cloud had his arm wrapped around her shoulders and she was cuddled closely next to him. Vincent looked behind him at Tifa and stopped, turning back to her and softly saying, "Everything alright, Tifa?"

Tifa took a deep sigh and looked into his deep red eyes. She knew that some of the others in the group were frightened by those unnaturally colored eyes, but she thought that they were beautiful. "Yeah," Tifa nodded after a moment and then turned back to Cloud and Aeris. "I… I think I'm ok with them now…"

Vincent didn't believe her, but figured that it would be best if he just let her deal with it her own way. "Very well…" Vincent replied and turned back to the town. "Are you ready to go back to the inn?"

"Umm… sure," Tifa nodded and followed Vincent back to the hotel.

* * *

Cloud woke everyone up early the next day to get onto the ship so they could get as far as possible, but they still didn't make it to the weapon dealer, instead only making it as far as Gongaga. The group immediately disembarked and all headed towards the town within the jungle. Although it really wasn't much of a jungle, it took the team a while to make it through since, by the time they were about halfway to the town, the sun had fallen and they had extremely little light. 

Fortunately, however, Vincent was able to guide them through the forest, after the others learned that he was able to see in the dark, until the rest of their eyes could adjust. Once they reached the town, everyone except Vincent went to the inn and they all played cards until they finally all got tired.

Tifa hoped that Vincent would stay at the inn, but before any of them could ask him, he had vanished. Tifa wished that Vincent would stay more with the group, but she decided that being distant was just Vincent's thing and she couldn't change that, no matter how much she wanted. After everyone else had gone to sleep, however, she was starting to worry about Vincent. It wasn't like him to not come back before it was too late and it was practically midnight now, so Tifa decided to head out and look for him, at least for a little while.

* * *

Vincent sat on top of a tree branch at the entrance of the town and was facing towards the jungle. He heard several creatures stirring in the otherwise almost absolute silence and found it oddly calming. Vincent quickly left the inn because he desired to be alone, for lately he hadn't had much time for that. When they're on the ship Tifa always sits next to him and tries to start up conversations and when they're on land, Tifa still usually finds a way to be with him. 

It wasn't that he was really annoyed by this or anything, in fact sometimes he even enjoyed her company. It was just that Vincent was a very private man and he needed his alone time. Fortunately, tonight he was getting quite a lot of it, enough to make up for the previous few days. He thought that he should thinking about heading back to the inn, once it was starting to get late, but ultimately decided against it. Everyone would probably already be asleep anyways so there would really be no point in going back versus staying out here. The only difference is out here he could look into the jungle, which he was starting to enjoy.

Vincent was somewhat startled when, behind him, he heard some footsteps. He had been thinking about Hojo a lot, mostly pondering over what had happened to his materia that he left at the mansion and was convinced that it was him. However, he silently turned and saw that it was Tifa, and she walked over towards the graveyard and glanced around.

_She's looking for me_, Vincent thought, knowing that would be the only reason she would have for looking around the graveyard.

Tifa was about to give up when she heard him softly say her name. She turned around but couldn't see him, and thought maybe she was just hearing things. Tifa was about to turn back to the town when he suddenly jumped down about four feet in front of her, startling her and making her fall back on her butt.

"Oh Vincent!" she exclaimed, a hand on her chest to try to calm her rapidly beating heart. "You surprised me!"

"My apologies," Vincent replied, extending a hand to help her up.

Tifa took it and, with his help, managed to get back up on the ground. "Where were you?"

"I was up in the tree," Vincent quickly replied. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was looking for you. It was getting pretty late and I… I guess I was getting worried."

"There's no need to get worried," Vincent reassured her. "I was just about to head back to the inn anyways."

"Oh, alright," Tifa nodded, but before Vincent could lead her back to the hotel, she spoke, "Why didn't you just stay back at the hotel, Vincent?"

"I simply… wished to be alone with my thoughts," Vincent replied silently, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

"Vincent…" Tifa told him, resting her hand on his right shoulder. "You don't have to get over these things alone. You can let us help you, you know?"

Vincent kept his gaze forward, not turning back to her. "I must handle it alone."

"You don't _have _to. Let me help you."

"Thank you," Vincent told her, walking forward making Tifa's hand fall off his shoulder. "However, I must suffer alone. It is my sin. My duty."

Tifa sighed to herself as she watched Vincent walk away from her. She wished she could help him somehow, but knew that she wouldn't be able to help him if he wouldn't let her. She knew that she would have to wait, for now at least, and instead ran up to his side.

Once she reached his side, Vincent stopped and looked down at her. Tifa returned the look, both looking into each other's eyes in utter silence. Tifa almost seemed hypnotized by his gaze but after a moment, he faced forward again and continued walking towards the inn while Tifa sat behind in confusion.

_What was that…?_ Tifa thought before running after him.

Once they entered the inn, Vincent instantly began walking upstairs while Tifa walked to her room which was under the staircase.

"Tifa," Vincent called.

Tifa turned and looked up at him, "yeah?"

"Good night," Vincent replied then continued up the stairs.

"Night," Tifa replied and then walked into her room.

The minute she walked in, she was surprised to see the light on and Aeris and Yuffie sitting on their beds talking excitedly about something. "Hey Tif," Aeris said with a wide smirk on her face. "Where were _you_?"

"Oh uh," Tifa muttered, scratching the back of her head. "I just went out to look for Vincent."

"I'm not surprised," Aeris replied with a wide smile and a glance towards Yuffie.

"How could you go out with a vampire?!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"I'm not going out with him!" Tifa retorted. "And he's not a vampire!"

"Sure…" Aeris said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah," Yuffie giggled. "You only spent, like, all the time on the plane with him."

"Well… I mean, he was all alone…" Tifa murmured, not wanting to tell them the real reason she had been sitting next to him on the plane. "I think he just needs a friend."

"Whatever you say, Tif," Aeris replied, once again rolling her eyes.

"I'm tired," Tifa told the other two, lying down in her bed. "Let's just go to sleep, huh?"

"Yeah, lets let Tifa sleep, Aeris," Yuffie said, standing up and walking over to the light switch. "She needs to dream of her little vampire."

"Shut up!" Tifa shouted as Yuffie turned off the light and returned to her bed, blushing like mad.

* * *

"Hey Cid!" Yuffie exclaimed, jumping up in her usual excited manner. 

They had been back at sea for a few hours now, Tifa taking her spot next to Vincent. As usual, they didn't talk much, but Tifa was beginning to actually enjoy the silence between them. At first, it felt awkward for her to sit there next to him without saying a word, but now she actually kind of enjoyed being with her thoughts. Of course, its not like they never talked, but whenever they did, it was usually her talking. Sometimes she would think he wasn't listening so she would just stop talking, but before long he would ask her what happened next in her story, surprising her and then she would continue.

"What is it, kiddo?" the pilot asked.

"The weapon's dealer I told you about is right around here, you should probably land."

"All right, prepare for landin'!" Cid shouted, and then turned the ship towards the shore. "Everyone hold on to something!"

After landing, the team split up, Cloud, Aeris, and Red XIII went to the weapon's dealer to see if he knew anything about the key to the temple of the ancients. The others stayed back and had the very unexciting job of guarding the ship. Vincent stayed away from the rest of the group, performing a careful and tedious task of cleaning his cowboy-style revolver.

The rest of the group talked, mostly it was Cid telling some of what happened to him before he joined the group, and the others told him of their journey thus far. Although you couldn't tell it by looking at him, Vincent was listening intently to their conversation of their journey. He was amazed that such a small group of people with such little guidance (not to mention little money) had managed to do so many amazing things. This truly made him reflect about his thoughts on the group, a group powerful enough to infiltrate Shinra headquarters and free two of their test subjects, at least one of them being very important to their plans.

"What about you, Yuffie?" Tifa asked kindly. "We really don't know much about you before you joined the group."

"Me? It was nothing interesting really…" Yuffie said with a goofy grin on her face, proving it to be an obvious lie.

"Oh come on," Cid pushed on. "You hunted materia, right? You _must_ have had some crazy adventures."

"Eh, not really," Yuffie shrugged. "I mostly stole things to keep a living. It got pretty close sometimes, but overall I was fine… at least until I met _you_ guys and ended up being on Shinra's most wanted list."

"Hell, I'm _proud_ to be on that list!" Barret bellowed, then turned to the silent member of the group. "What 'bout you, Vincent? You was in the Turks, right?"

"…" Vincent was silently wiping the barrel of his revolver with a cloth for a moment longer, then replied, "Yes…"

"Well, what about that?" Cid asked. "And how'd ya end up in that coffin anyways?"

"…" Vincent was completely silent, and then said, "It's a long story… I'd rather not discuss it…"

"Oh, come on!" Yuffie exclaimed, walking over to Vincent and begging him. "You know you want to tell us!"

Vincent glared at Yuffie with his chilling red eyes, instantly putting a stop to her childish antiques. "Guys," Tifa said, taking a step towards Yuffie and resting a hand on her shoulder. "If Vincent doesn't want to tell us, that's his own business. He'll probably tell us some day..."

"Yea, I guess," Barret grumbled. "Sides, there ain't no story, he's jes a damn vampire."

Vincent ignored Barret's comment and went back to the tedious task of cleaning his revolver.

* * *

It didn't take long for the others to return to the ship, unfortunately without the key to the ancients. "What d'ya mean he didn't have it?!" Barret bellowed angrily. 

"He sold it already," Cloud told the enraged former Avalanche leader. "To Dio, the owner of Gold Saucer."

"Gold Saucer, huh?" Yuffie happily jumped. "YEAH! Let's go have a break at Gold Saucer!"

"Yuffie, this is about the worst time to take a break from our journey," Cloud told the ninja.

"Aww fine!" Yuffie huffed. "Let's just go then…"

"Yuffie's right, we have to beat Sephiroth to the Temple of the Ancients," Cloud announced to the group. "So let's go."

Vincent was curious about Gold Saucer. Back in his day, there was no Gold Saucer, however, judging by Yuffie's gleeful exclamation upon hearing the words, he guessed it was some sort of amusement park.

"How are we gonna get it from Dio?" Cid asked. "I doubt he'll just let us go in there and take the damn thing."

"I'll just ask if we can borrow it, I guess…" Cloud shrugged.

"Oh oh oh!" Yuffie exclaimed, jumping up like a child. "We could steal it! It's been soooooo long since I've stolen anything!"

"Yuffie!" Aeris exclaimed.

"If it comes to that, maybe," Cloud replied with a shrug.

"Cloud?!" Aeris cried, surprised that the leader would suggest such a thing.

"We need to get in that temple," Cloud told her. "And you know Shinra could get it easily by using any of the resources they have."

"And they have a shit load of 'em," Barret told the ancient. "They can get that key about a countless o' different ways, it's all too easy for 'em."

"We'll do what we have to," Tifa told the group. "But, before jumping to conclusions, we should go and check it out."

"Yes, Tifa's right," Red XIII agreed. "Let's go."

* * *

To Vincent, Gold Saucer was one of the most amazing things in the world. It amazed him that not only was it built on a desert, but that the enormous structure stood high above the ground. Judging by the size of the amusement park, Vincent guessed that this Dio had a lot of money, which was a colossal understatement for anyone who knew just how much money Dio actually had. 

They took the railcar to the park and, although no one could tell, Vincent was amazed by the advancements in technology that mako had given them. Once at the top, an old man approached the group. "Do you need tickets?" he asked.

"We have the gold pass," Cloud announced, handing it to the man.

"Oh…" the man said, inspecting the ticket, then handing it back. "All right, enjoy Gold Saucer."

"Oh, we will!" Yuffie exclaimed, dashing into the lobby area, followed by the rest of the group. "Let's go to Wonder Square!"

"We have a mission, Yuffie," Cloud told the young ninja. "We have to find out where Dio is, and what he did with the key stone…"

Vincent, who was inspecting the park map, said, "It may be in the 'Treasures Room' in Battle Square."

"Oh, yeah, good idea, Vincent," Cloud said, looking over the map to make sure that Vincent was right about where it was. "All right, let's go guys."

"Oh fine…" Yuffie whimpered, but followed the group to Battle Square.

Battle Square had a small side room, which, as the map had said, was the 'Treasure Room'. The group entered the room and directly in the center of the room sat a pedestal that had a strange purple stone on it; in front of the stone was sign which read 'Keystone'.

"So… this is the keystone…" Cloud muttered, glancing it over with his mako enhanced eyes. He found it very strange that the key to the temple would be a stone, but then again it was supposedly built back when the ancients were around, and that was thousands of years ago.

"The key to the Temple of the Ancients…" Aeris spoke. "That name still gives me chills."

"Checking out my newest treasure, eh Cloud?" asked a man from behind them.

Vincent, with his well-honed skills, spun around immediately with his hand on the butt of his revolver, only to discover that the man was no threat. He was very muscular, although not as large as Barret, and was wearing a very small speedo, which made all the girls look away in disgust.

"Yeah, Dio," Cloud told him, ignoring the man's poor choice of clothing. "Do you think we could borrow it for a little bit?"

"Well… you _have_ been good to me in the past…" Dio muttered, and then began to think about it. "Hmm… let's make a little deal, Cloud…"

"What is it?" asked the ex-SOLDIER.

"How about this… you can have the keystone if you entertain me!"

"How can I entertain you?"

"Well, this is _Battle_ Square," Dio told him with a smirk. "Let's see how well you can do in the battle! Then I'll give you the keystone."

"All right," Cloud nodded and headed towards the battle arena.

The battle arena was truly strange to Vincent. After every round in the arena, you would have to play a slot machine, except this machine, instead of being a gambling machine, would injure or help you in some way. Due to this, Vincent was amazed that Cloud was able to conquer the arena, he was poisoned, shrunk, transformed into a frog, and was slowed down dramatically.

"Congratulations, Cloud!" Dio exclaimed once Cloud walked out of the arena, tired from his strenuous battles. "A deal's a deal, here's the keystone."

The owner of the amusement park tossed the keystone to him as though it were a simple coin fortunately Cloud easily caught it. "Thanks, Dio," Cloud said, looking over the stone that was now in his hands.

"No need for thanks, kiddo," Dio said, then began walking away from the group. "Unfortunately, I'm a very busy man and I must be on my way, have a good day, folks."

"All right, let's get outta here," Cloud said, following Dio out of the arena and heading to the station, followed by the rest of the group.

Once they reached the station, immediately, the same old man who checked their gold ticket ran up to them. "I'm very sorry, folks, but the tram is out of order…" the old man said.

"Oh, how long is it going to be out for?" Cloud asked while Yuffie leaped for joy behind him.

"I'm sorry to say that it'll be out all night," the old man said. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

"Oh…" Cloud mumbled, then walked into the lobby room. "Well, as long as we have the keystone, neither Shinra or Sephiroth is gonna get inside of the Temple of the Ancients."

"Yeah," Cait Sith announced. "And don't worry about spending the night, I'll be able to get a free night at the Ghost Inn."

"All right, good," Cloud told the group, headed for the inn. "Then I say we head over to the inn and call it a night."

"No way!" Yuffie exclaimed. "I'm gonna head over to Wonder Square and play some games!"

"All right, but be sure to go to bed early, we're going to have a big day tomorrow," Cloud told the young ninja.

"Yeah yeah, all right," Yuffie said and went to Wonder Square while the others went to the inn.

* * *

Well, what do you think? Any good? 

Please comment!


	8. Events in the Night

Chapter Eight: Events in the night

* * *

Cloud stood looking out the window of his room in the inn. He couldn't sleep; his mind felt completely divided. Part of him knew that he had to go to the Temple of the Ancients and defeat Sephiroth if he had the chance. But another part of him was trying to warn him not to go, as if something absolutely terrible would happen if he went. 

This was happening more and more frequently, his mind seemed to keep fighting itself on so many different things that it was beginning to worry him. He had decided a long time ago that he would try to hide this from the group, but it was becoming more and more difficult. It was almost as if something kept trying to take control of him, something kept trying to make him do things that he didn't want to. However, oddly enough, the part of his mind that kept trying to make him do things was the part that wanted him to hunt Sephiroth, and he knew that he had to hunt down and destroy Sephiroth.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and he heard a sweet voice call to him, "Cloud?"

Aeris walked into the room and Cloud turned towards her, very happy to have her as a visitor, plus it halted his mind's fighting for now. "Hey Aeris, is everything all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything fine…" Aeris told the ex-SOLDIER, trying to look innocent as she walked closer to him. "Umm, I was wondering if maybe we could go on a date…"

"A date?" Cloud asked, happy and yet slightly confused. It was very obvious that she liked him, but he was thinking that they would deal with each other once their journey was over, not that he would mind to go on a date with her in the least bit.

"Yeah, remember, I owe you one for being my bodyguard," Aeris told him. "Now let's go!"

Cloud smiled at the beautiful young ancient before him and said, "Yeah, all right… let's go Aeris."

Aeris's green eyes light up even more than usual as she ran up to him and grabbed his hand. "All right!"

The two walked out of the room and down to the lobby of the hotel, where they saw Vincent sitting on a couch which matched the color of his cape. "Oh… hey Vincent," Cloud said, surprised to see him up.

"Hello Cloud, Aeris," Vincent replied with a nod. "Going on a date?"

"Yeah!" Aeris cheerfully exclaimed, making a small grin form on Cloud's face.

"Well, have a good evening," Vincent said as the two left.

* * *

Tifa lied boringly in her bed. She couldn't sleep, mostly because she was furious with Aeris, although she wished she wouldn't be. When Tifa was just about to fall asleep, Aeris quietly snuck out of the room. At first, Tifa thought that Aeris may have just been going to the bathroom or something, but then she heard some noise from Cloud's room and figured out what was going on. 

Tifa was beginning to get used to Cloud and Aeris being together, but it still made her jealous. Just because she was starting to get over Cloud didn't mean she liked seeing her best friend dating him. Tifa rolled onto her side, trying to make her jealous thoughts leave her mind, but simply couldn't.

Tifa sat up and decided that she would try to go for a little walk and try to tire herself out. She left the room and went down to the lobby of the inn, where she saw Vincent sitting on a couch. "Hello, Tifa," Vincent called to her. "Where are you heading off to?"

"I was just going to go for a walk," Tifa told him, showing a fake smile. "I… I can't sleep…"

"I see…" Vincent replied, knowing exactly why the young martial artist couldn't sleep.

"Umm, what are you doing?" Tifa asked.

"I couldn't sleep either and decided to stay out here," Vincent told her. "I didn't want to wake up Cid."

"Oh…" Tifa muttered. "Is… is it all right if I stay here too?" Vincent moved to the side of the couch in response. "Thanks," Tifa told him and sat next to him.

They were quiet for a short while when Tifa finally asked, "So… have you been out here long?"

"All night," Vincent immediately answered.

"You… you didn't happen to see… Cloud and Aeris leave… did you?" Tifa asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Vincent looked at her and his eyes seemed to ask the question if Tifa really wanted to know the answer. He seemed to have gotten his answer and said, "Yes, Tifa, they left on a date… I'm sorry."

"Oh…" Tifa sighed, looking down at her boots for a moment, then perked up and flashed him a great fake smile. "Well, I'm glad for them."

"Tifa…" Vincent murmured, eyeing her curiously.

"No really. I'm glad that they're together… It's good that they have each other, ya know?"

"I suppose," Vincent told her. "However, at what cost? If you truly feel for Cloud, you should tell him."

"…" Tifa was silent a moment. "I guess… but I think I'm starting to get over Cloud now anyways. I'm just going to try to be as happy as I can for them… I know that they're good together anyways."

"I suppose…"

"Or do you think I should go after him?" Tifa asked, searching his haunting red eyes for answers.

"I… I do not know…" Vincent replied, glancing away.

Tifa flashed a playful look of shock, "The great Vincent Valentine doesn't know something?!"

"Tifa…" Vincent told her. "Of course, I don't know everything. And romance is certainly something that I should not be asked about."

"I guess…" Tifa told him. "I don't really know much about you though, so I wouldn't really know."

"Tifa…" Vincent sighed. "I understand your curiosity about my past and the very strange things about myself… but I…"

"I understand Vincent, you don't need to explain it to me," Tifa told him, looking into his eyes. "I know you were hurt… badly. I can accept just knowing that about you…"

"Tifa…" Vincent said, almost feeling bad for not telling her about him. "Thank you… And, if I were to tell anyone anything, I would talk to you first."

"Thanks, Vincent," Tifa told him, then leaned slightly on him.

It sort of shocked both of them by Tifa's movements. Tifa didn't even realize what she did until she felt the comfort of Vincent's cape up against her face. However, even after knowing what she did, she decided that she wouldn't move. Right now, she felt like she definitely needed someone to comfort her and, although she felt that it was unfortunate for Vincent, he was who it would have to be. Also, for some reason, it just felt so right to Tifa to lean up against Vincent, but she couldn't really understand why.

For Vincent it was shocking and, in its own way, torture. It was shocking for the obvious reason of a beautiful woman like Tifa leaning up against a terrible demon, like he considered himself to be. It was torturous because of all the memories that it caused to flood back into his mind. He could never be able to count how many times Lucrecia had lied against him in the exact same way. All the thoughts caused him to wish, even pray, that he could go back to that time and fix everything, oh how he wished he could have his dear Lucrecia back.

"I'm sorry, Vincent," Tifa told him. "I know you don't like this kinda stuff… I just… need someone, ya know?"

Vincent, however, could hardly even hear her. He was focusing in on her, studying her, although it may seem perverted to a viewer, for him he was merely remembering all those times with Lucrecia, and was hardly even seeing through his own eyes. How he wished it were Lucrecia there instead of Tifa.

Tifa looked up at him, curious as to why he didn't respond, and was shocked to see him looking at her with those hauntingly beautiful crimson eyes of his. Tifa looked into those eyes a moment and saw something very strange, something she would never had expected to see in the gunslinger's eyes. It was a look of longing… and he was looking right at her. "Vincent… are you ok?" Tifa asked him, surprised about the look in his eyes.

_That look… could it be that he… he wants me?_ Tifa asked herself, having received several similar looks from men.

_No, nonsense,_ she replied to herself. _He was probably too hurt from that Lucrecia woman to be attracted to anyone anymore._

_But… that look in his eyes… and he was looking _right_ at me!_

… _Maybe…_

"Yes, Tifa, I apologize," he said, quickly shifting his gaze away from her.

"It's… alright, Vincent," she replied with a smile. She took a deep breath and decided that she would ask him if he felt something towards her, but she had no idea how to do it, so she just went off. "Vincent… do… I mean…"

Vincent looked back at Tifa and their eyes met. The minute their eyes met, Vincent was reminded of one time when he was sitting with Lucrecia just like this, and just when their eyes locked onto each other's, they began kissing. Tifa saw the feeling of want in his eyes, unfortunately for her, she didn't realize that it was a want for Lucrecia, not for her.

Tifa acted purely on impulse, seeing that look in a man's eye who she, although she probably wouldn't admit it any other time, had thought about romantically. So, Tifa closed her eyes and leaned in closer to him, spreading her lips slightly and waited for a kiss. Vincent saw this, and, due to his overwhelming thoughts of Lucrecia, he, too, acted on impulse and went for the kiss.

Once their lips locked, they had stayed that way for an unknown amount of time, however, it is known that it had been a while. Vincent was gentle and slow, but with plenty of passion. Tifa liked it this way, however, between thinking of Cloud and Vincent, she was thinking about this sort of thing a lot. She slid her tongue up to his lips and, as if to ask for entrance, licked them softly.

Vincent immediately let her tongue in, and the two tongues began to do what could almost seem like a dance for the remainder of their time together. Vincent's hands, even the claw, was soft as he rubbed her back with them, and Tifa massaged the top of his neck with her hands, as well as brushed his long, silky hair. Both hands were prepared to move anywhere at a moment's notice.

As this went on, a certain young ninja dashed into the hotel as quickly as she could, panting tiredly. The minute she entered the inn, she instantly saw the two together on the couch. At first she was about to pass by, as she had been given orders directly from Cloud to get help, but then she realized just who it was that was there.

"Guys!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Cloud needs our help!" The two instantly separated and looked at her wide-eyed, which was the point that Yuffie realized what they were doing. "Were you guys-"

"Where's Cloud?" Vincent interrupted, standing from his spot.

"Oh! He's chasing Cait Sith at the chocobo station!" Yuffie replied, knowing what's more important. "Cait has the keystone!"

Like a flash, Vincent was out the door, almost immediately followed by the two women.

By the time Vincent came out at the chocobo race tracks, he saw Cait Sith running out of the betting site and into the chute area, followed shortly behind by Cloud and Aeris. Vincent tore out his gun and fired a warning shot at Cait Sith's feet, which made the mechanical moogle jump almost a good five feet. "Stop, Cait!" Vincent bellowed as Tifa and Yuffie entered the area.

Just then, a helicopter was heard overhead and, glancing up at the helicopter, Vincent saw Tseng. Cait Sith threw the keystone up to the helicopter and right into Tseng's open hands. "Thanks for the help, AVALANCHE!" Tseng yelled as the helicopter took off in the air.

"You bastard!" Cloud yelled. "We trusted you, Cait!"

"Listen, Cloud," the cat nonchalantly replied. "Just forget about this, let's just go on like nothing happened."

"No, we can't!" Cloud shouted. "You just betrayed us! We can't let you stick around! We should take you out right now for being a spy!"

"You can do that, I don't care," Cait Sith cockily replied. "This body is nothing but a toy anyways. I'm controlling this body from Shinra Headquarters as we speak."

"Fine!" Tifa yelled. "Then just get out of here!"

"I can't do that."

"Do you really think we can let you just keep tagging along?!" Yuffie screamed.

"I'm sorry but… you don't have a choice," the spy answered, opening the belly of the moogle, revealing a tv screen, which suddenly flashed on, showing Marlene on the screen in a place that looked like a prison.

"Auntie Tifa! Daddy!" Marlene cried on the screen.

"Marlene!" Tifa exclaimed running closer to the screen.

"Auntie Tifa!" Marlene sobbed. "I'm so scared!"

"Just be strong, Marlene!" Tifa shouted into the screen as it turned off and the moogle's belly closed.

"That's low!" Aeris yelled. "Hostage taking?!"

"I didn't want to have to do this…"

"But you did," Vincent declared, taking a step closer to the cat. "And there's no going back now."

"Listen, I don't really care if you don't trust me ever again," the cat shrugged. "But I have to go with you... It's my job and…"

"And what?!" Cloud barked. "You enjoy playing with us?"

"No…" Cait replied, looking down thoughtfully. "It's your way of life… you don't get paid, praised, or even recognition, but you go on fighting… I just don't understand."

"There's more to life than that!" Aeris shout at the spy. "We _are_ doing the right thing! We're saving the world!"

"Yeah!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Besides, why should we trust anything that you say now? And you'll probably just try to stop us every step of the way now!"

"No, I'll let you go on your way," the spy told them. "And you can continue on to the temple of the ancients, it's just that the Shinra will be there now, but you'll have to deal with that. Now, I'm going back to the inn." The cat said and controlled the moogle to jump into the inn chute before anyone could stop him.

"So, that's it?" Tifa said, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "We can't do anything?"

"As long as he has Marlene… I don't think so," Cloud answered, crossing his arms and looking down at the ground in thought.

"Grr!" Yuffie growled. "Oh! It makes me so angry!"

"Poor Marlene…" Aeris murmured, then looked up at Cloud. "What should we tell Barret?"

"If he knows that Cait has Marlene, he'll kill him," Tifa told him. "He won't care whether or not Cait is just a toy or not."

"We have to tell him in the morning," Cloud told the group. "We'll have to tell everyone. We have to keep as close an eye on him as possible."

"Oh man… I hope Barret takes it all right…" Tifa murmured, although knowing that he won't.

"Come on," Cloud sighed, walking towards the inn chute. "We have to get to bed… we're going to have a long day tomorrow, especially with the Shinra beating us there."

"Night!" Aeris proclaimed as she followed Cloud through the chute.

"I can't believe Cait!" Yuffie exclaimed, angrily jumping through the chute.

This just left Vincent and a worried Tifa. "…Are you all right?" Vincent asked the former bartender.

"…" Tifa sighed. "I'm so worried about Marlene… It's so hard knowing that we can't do anything about it…"

"You have to be strong, Tifa," Vincent told her. "For Marlene as well as Barret."

"I… I don't know if I can…" Tifa told the gunman, looking up at him with large wet eyes. "Marlene… I'm so worried about her… I… I just wish there was something that we could do…"

"…" Vincent was silent and looked down at the woman. He felt pity for the woman, which may be why, when she ran into his arms, he didn't resist. However, he was worried about how she may now feel for him. They just kissed, after all, and now she was looking towards him for comfort… he couldn't let her be with him, he couldn't ruin her life. "Tifa… I…"

"Vincent," Tifa said, showing her tearful eyes. "I know you don't like this… just… please…"

Vincent was silent and thought about this. He was being selfish. This woman was in distress and he was making up reasons why not to comfort her… he would help her now, it would be rude not to. He heard a sob utter from her and held her tighter to his chest for support.

Tifa was surprised that he was holding her but was extremely thankful. She held on tighter and kept thinking about Marlene. Ever since she had joined Avalanche, she had been practically the young girl's caretaker. Now she was captured, taken into the hands of their enemies, could be killed at any time. She had always been frightened that it could happen, that Marlene would be Shinra's target to get to them, and it seem that it finally had. Hopefully, they could do something to save her. They had to find a way.

Vincent kept holding Tifa for roughly ten minutes. People walked by them occasionally, despite how late it was, curious why someone would be crying in such a happy place. Finally, Vincent decided it was getting too late. Vincent held Tifa by her shoulders, separated her from him, and looked down into her wet eyes. "Its late, Tifa," Vincent calmly told her. "You should get some sleep, we're going to have a hard day tomorrow."

Tifa nodded then wiped her eyes, walking side by side with Vincent back to the inn. Once they reached the entrance, the two walked up the steps, and Tifa stopped at her door, looking back at Vincent as his room was one more room down. "Thanks, Vincent…" Tifa muttered.

"It is fine, Tifa," Vincent replied.

Vincent was about to walk by her and then she surprised him with a quick hug, then she quickly walked back into the room. Vincent glanced in the door's direction, shrugged, then walked into his room.

He was surprised that the light was already on, and even more so when he saw Cid having a cigarette and watching something on the television. Cid turned to Vincent as he entered and widely grinned. "You and Tif finally show up?" Cid asked.

"Yes," Vincent shortly replied and then walked over to his bed.

"What were you two doin?" Cid asked.

Vincent rolled on his side, his back facing the pilot, and was silent. He was in no mood to handle foolish jokes.

"Oh come on, Vince! Lighten up a bit!" Cid exclaimed. "You and me should go get some drinks or somethin'."

"We're going to have a tough day tomorrow," Vincent told the smoker. "Besides, just keep Barret as your drinkin' buddy."

"Yeah, Cloud told me 'bout what happened," Cid sighed. "Damn Shinra. Should've expected them to do something like that…"

"I suppose," Vincent replied.

"Right…" Cid murmured, seeming bored of the conversation. "So, I've been wonderin' this for a while. Are you and Tifa dating?"

"No," Vincent shortly replied once more.

"Oh, I was just wonderin' because you two always seem to be together…" Cid then flashed a wide grin. "Think I stand a chance with 'er?"

Vincent was silent for a moment, thinking about Tifa being with the pilot. Firstly, he was probably about twice her age and secondly Tifa would probably never be able to deal with Cid's habits. Tifa seemed to be someone who enjoyed some good exercised and try to be healthy, whereas Cid seems to not care the least about his own health.

"Go for it," Vincent uninterestingly replied.

Cid chuckled, then turned off the television and lights, and sat back down. "Don't think it would work," Cid then replied. "I think she's shootin' for you."

Vincent didn't reply, which gave Cid the hint to finally be quiet. Vincent laid there awake until the morning, thinking about what would come to their group, trying to keep Cid's conversation out of his head.

* * *

"_WHAT?!_" Barret bellowed in the lobby, instantly spinning around towards Cait Sith, aiming his gun-arm at the cat's head. "_YOU SON OF A BITCH! GIVE ME BACK MARLENE!_" 

Instantly Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris grabbed Barret while Red XIII jumped in front of the backstabber, in an attempt to guard him from bullets. "Barret!" Cloud exclaimed. "He has Marlene, doing this would only hurt her!"

Barret growled and lowered his arm, fuming with rage, then bellowed, "You _son of a bitch_! Ya better make _damn_ sure that she's safe or your ass'll be mine!"

"As long as you cooperate, she'll be just fine," said the Shinra agent. "Now, we really should be off to the temple of the ancients, unless you want to fall too far behind from the Shinra."

"Yeah, Barret," Red XIII told the large man. "We'll do what we can. That's the best that we can do for Marlene right now."

"_FINE_!" Barret bellowed. "Then lets go!"

Barret stormed out of the ghost hotel, Tifa sighed and said, "We… should probably follow him…"

Tifa then led the group out the door and they began traveling to their airship to travel to the Temple of the Ancients.

* * *

Another chapter down! 

Thanks for all the reviews guys and keep them coming!


	9. Temple of the Ancients

Chapter Nine: The Temple of the Ancients

To answer Gemini14's question, I am writing this mostly from memory but I did use the game script that I found at for some places, especially in this chapter.

* * *

After four extremely anxious hours, they had finally arrived at the temple. It was enormous, seeming lost amongst the forest that surrounded it. It was made out of large, sand colored bricks, reaching almost one hundred feet into the sky. The ancient temple had vines growing all around it and seemed as though it hadn't been touched for centuries, except for the fact that there were now Shinra troops surrounding it. 

They had split up into two groups. Cloud's team, which consisted of Cait Sith, Aeris, Red XIII, and Yuffie, headed to the left side of the building while Tifa's team, which consisted of Vincent, Barret, and Cid, went to the right side. Their plan was to flank the soldiers guarding the entrance, from the left Aeris and Cait Sith would bombard the soldiers with magic while Yuffie attacks with her shuriken, all from a distance, while Cloud and Red XIII wait until they take care of a few soldiers, then charge. From the right, Vincent and Barret would blast away with their guns, then Tifa and Cid would charge in like Cloud and Red XIII.

Both teams waited in position when Cloud called Tifa's cell, which was the signal, instantly Vincent and Barret took aim, and unleashed a barrage of bullets, and on the other side they could hear, and see, blasts of fire and lightning. "We're under attack!" cried a number of soldiers. Several were confused about which direction they would fight towards, and this confusion gave AVALANCHE an enormous advantage.

After Vincent put a second clip into his peacemaker, Tifa and Cid both charged in, Cid whipping his spear through the air, taking out two of the closest soldiers, while Tifa charged through the closest and began pummeling him to a pulp.

With Cid nearby, Barret halted his array of bullets, with his gun-arm his bullets were inaccurate and too risky, so instead he began casting a quake 2 spell. Vincent took aim and tried to cover Tifa, who was closer in and needed it. Vincent immediately noticed that several soldiers had turned to Tifa, and the young bartender was quickly being overrun with enemies. Vincent quickly aimed and took out three soldiers with three dead on accurate headshots, despite them being a good fifty or hundred feet ahead of him.

Once the crowd had been taken care of, the team regrouped in front of a long staircase which led all the way up to the top of the temple. "All right," Cloud announced once they regrouped. "I think we should leave some people out here, in case more Shinra soldiers show up."

"I've got to go in…" Aeris pleaded. "I need some answers… and I really hope this place will have them."

"Cait sure as shit ain't goan in there," Barret told the group, staring down the spy. "Ya'll can leave im out here with me."

"All right…" Cloud replied, eyeing over the group. "How about… Aeris, Red XIII, and Cid come in with me and Tifa, Barret, Vincent, Yuffie, and Cait Sith stay out here. How's that sound?"

"Great," Barret replied. "N' I'll be damn sure to keep an eye on this damn Shinra spy."

"All right," Cloud said, turning towards the long stairwell. "Let's go, and make sure that no more Shinra soldiers come in. If you have any problems, be sure to give us a call."

"Cloud, wait!" Cait Sith exclaimed as Cloud's team began heading up the steps. "There are some Shinra troops inside, as well as some Turks…"

"Any idea how many?" Cloud asked, to which Cait Sith only shrugged.

"Ha ha!" Barret exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Cait Sith. "That's proof right there that your headin' straight into a trap!"

"Actually," began Vincent. "The Turks often did separate into groups… time is money, after all. There will likely be a group of two or so inside."

"That's true," Tifa added. "Now that I think about it, we've always fought the Turks in groups of two."

"Right," Cloud agreed with a nod. "And I'll be sure to call if there are any problems."

Vincent replied with a nod, and the group began their ascension into the mysterious temple.

* * *

It took Cloud, Aeris, Red XIII, and Cid a few tiring moments to finally make it all the way up the stairs. They entered a small door at the top of the steps and discovered the bodies of several slain Shinra soldiers, blood smeared everywhere, and an opening in the center of the room, revealing a staircase which lead down into the temple. 

"Oh my god…" Aeris murmured, covering her nose and mouth with her hand.

Cloud investigated one of the bodies and discovered exactly what he had feared, they were all killed by a katana, which could only mean Sephiroth had also all ready beaten them there. "Sephiroth…" Cloud muttered. "We don't have much time…"

"Yes," Red XIII said. "Now we have to hurry before Shinra and Sephiroth can take everything there is in the temple."

With that, the group rushed down the stairwell, and began navigating through the enormous temple.

* * *

Tifa's team was doing virtually nothing. Vincent was silently cleaning one of his revolvers, Yuffie and Tifa were talking about something a little ways away from him, while Barret and Cait Sith had been separated, Barret guarding the left side of the building while Cait was watching the right side. 

Just then, Vincent heard a helicopter in the far distance. Instantly, his head jerked up, searching the skies for the source of the noise, meanwhile, Yuffie and Tifa noticed this and starting searching the skies themselves. "What is it, Vincent?" Tifa asked, looking over at the gunman.

Vincent quickly put down his revolver and drew his pistol, then pointed to the skies, "There."

Squinting, Yuffie and Tifa could barely see anything, but after a matter of seconds, it was in view, heading directly towards the temple. Vincent kept his guard up while Tifa yelled, "Barret! Cait! A Shinra helicopter!"

Immediately, the two were in the front, just as the helicopter landed roughly fifty feet ahead of them. Out of the chopper leapt Reno, Rude, and two highly trained SOLDIERs, both walking closer to the team. "Ahh, great to see you guys again!" Reno greeted with a grin.

"Did you foget how we kicked yo ass last time?!" Barret shouted at the four man group.

"Eh," Reno shrugged. "Sometimes luck can get the best of you." Then, Reno took out a rod, which, at least Vincent noticed, was different than his previous. "But, with this new little toy of mine, not all the luck in the world could save you."

Oh yeah?!" Yuffie exclaimed. "What's so great about it?"

Reno grinned, "I was hoping you would ask me that."

Reno pointed the end of the staff at Yuffie, which was exactly when Vincent noticed what made this rod so much different. At the end of the staff was a hole, just like for a gun, which forced Vincent to react once he saw something shoot out of it. Vincent ran for Yuffie and, immediately before the bullet would have dug into the almost dead center of the young ninja's chest, tackled her to the ground.

"Faster than I expected, Valentine," Reno replied with a grin.

Vincent flipped into the air, all the while he aimed his gun and instantly fired four rounds at the cocky young Turk, which immediately caused the two SOLDIERs and Rude to began casting magic attacks while one bullet dug into the right side of the Turk's chest. Vincent glared at the four Shinra assassins and was surprised to see the Reno was still standing well, when Vincent instantly noticed that Reno and Rude's uniform were larger than usual, which meant they must have been wearing a heavier duty bulletproof vest than before.

Cait Sith started blasting one of the two soldiers with an ice spell, while Barret fired shots at the other, and Vincent tried to fire a shot somewhere else than Reno's chest, where the armor was. Tifa, meanwhile, charged at the group, and instantly saw Rude coming up to her as well. The two martial artists stopped for a second, both glaring into eachother's eyes. Rude slowly took off his sunglasses and put it into a pocket inside his shirt and then cracked his knuckles, while Tifa stood in a battle stance.

Then the two charged each other, exchanging a number of blows, and each managing to dodge the majority of their opponent's attacks, until Rude managed to trip Tifa, then leapt on top of her and began slamming his fist into her face. Then, one SOLDIER attacked Cait with a mighty fire 3 spell which, due to the immense power of the magic, sent the oversized toy flying back onto the staircase of the temple. By now, Yuffie joined the action and casted a quick cure spell on Cait Sith, then hurled her shuriken at the very SOLDIER that attacked Cait.

Barret, still filled with rage over Marlene, gave up on firing at his SOLDIER and instead charged the warrior, ignoring the bullets flying at him, and slammed his gun-arm into the man's face, instantly shattering his nose, causing blood to gush out. Vincent, meanwhile, was trying to take care of Reno with magic spells, but it seemed his vest also protected him against spells, which means that only physical attacks would be able to take down the turk. Vincent charged at the flaming haired turk, using his claw arm to guard himself from the bullets that Reno fired.

Once Vincent reached the turk, he slammed his fist into Reno's jaw, but was instantly countered by him swing the rod at Vincent's head. However, Vincent easily managed to catch the rod and, due to Reno's weakness of getting slammed in the jaw, pull it out of his grip. Vincent spun and, before Reno could even fall to the ground, slammed the rod into Reno's head, causing him to fall a little ways away, but he quickly stood back up.

"You got my rod!" Reno shouted, but then shrugged. He reached his hand into his coat and tore out a large magnum revolver, which was so massive that it looked as though it could nearly take down a helicopter. "Oh well."

Reno started firing and Vincent immediately dove out of the way, tossing the rod to the ground and tearing out his peacemaker, now that he's closer, it would be easier to get headshots. Vincent dove behind a tree and started firing, hiding behind the tree for cover on occasion. However, Vincent instantly found out that he would need a new plan, since Reno's gun was literally blasting away the tree.

Meanwhile, Barret, full of a newfound rage at Shinra for the loss of his daughter, was pummeling the SOLDIER with his fist and gun-arm. He slammed the SOLDIER to the floor and aimed his gun-arm down at his foe's head, blasting an enormous energy ball which formed out of the barrel, Barret's limit break. This finished the SOLDIER, allowing Barret to worry about some of his other teammates.

Tifa, however, was taking her opponent as serious and carefully as she could, for Rude was an expert martial artist, much like herself. It was almost a perfect match, Rude also took his opponent carefully, which shocked Tifa since Reno was so aggressive and cocky, she assumed they were all like that. Tifa managed to get him off of her by catching his fist with one hand and slamming her fist into his face with the other.

Tifa suddenly charged at Rude, aiming her fist for Rude's face, however, he caught her fist and spun around, tripping her in the process. She fell to the ground, and Rude leapt down at her, his elbow extended out, aiming for her neck. Tifa quickly rolled to the side, Rude slamming painfully on the ground. Tifa leapt up and slammed her boot into his back, causing a groan to emerge from the Shinra assassin. Rude slid to the side and quickly leapt up, jumping back and then quickly casting a powerful Bolt 2 at Tifa. The young bartender tried to leap back to avoid the spell, but was still struck by the mighty lightning spell.

Rude used this opportunity to charge at Tifa, then slamming his fist into her stomach. This was just when Barret had finished up with his SOLDIER and saw that Tifa appeared to be losing. Barret instantly charged up to Rude and swung his gun-arm at the Turk, but, due to Barret's slow speed, he saw it and managed to avoid it, jumping back. Barret then quickly summoned a cure for Tifa, then spun towards Rude and unleashed a bombardment of bullets.

Yuffie and Cait Sith, meanwhile, had teamed up on their SOLDIER, almost playing games on him. The SOLDIER himself wasn't nearly enough to handle both of them, so Yuffie would charge at him, slashing him with her shuriken, then fall back while Cait Sith blasted a spell at him, then they would repeat the process. Eventually, Yuffie, seeing that Vincent was having some trouble with Reno, decided to end the fight by slashing the SOLDIER's neck. Then Yuffie began to aim a Fire 2 spell at Reno, however, suddenly heard her name being called by Cait Sith. Yuffie turned and saw two more Second Class SOLDIERs that seemed to have come from behind the temple, and knew that she and Cait Sith would have to tend to them first.

Vincent, once Reno was reloading, which was lucky since Vincent's tree had quickly become pretty puny, leapt out from his cover and charged for the young turk. As he ran, he aimed and fired a shot at Reno's right bicep, causing him to jerk back and drop his massive handcannon. Then, Vincent charged up and pistol whipped the young turk, then slashed him across the face with his claw. Reno stumbled back, but then pulled out another gun, this one was just an ordinary glock, and fired two shots into Vincent's stomach, then slammed his foot at the new wounds.

Reno ran a few feet back and quickly casted a cure spell on himself, then ran and collected his rod. Next Reno ran up to Vincent who was just starting to stand back up, but was stopped by Reno slamming the staff into Vincent's side. The gunslinger stumbled back then Reno aimed the barrel of his staff at Vincent's stomach and fired. Vincent was surprised to see that it wasn't a bullet but instead was a dart, filled with some unknown poison.

Vincent jumped up and aimed his pistol at the cocky young turk. "What did you just shoot me with?" Vincent asked.

"Heh," Reno smirked. "I'm sure you'll find out in a couple of seconds."

Tifa, with the help of Barret, managed to get the upper hand on Rude. They did something similar to what Yuffie and Cait Sith did with their SOLDIER, however, Rude was more skilled than the Second Class SOLDIER, which made it harder. Nevertheless, the two original AVALANCHE members overpowered the single Turk.

Yuffie and Cait Sith were able to manage each of the SOLDIERs, each taking on one of the two. Yuffie's opponent began by attack her with a Bolt 2 spell, but she managed to dive out of the way at the last second and hurl her shuriken at the SOLDIER, which slashed through his Shinra uniform. Once she received her shuriken back, the young ninja shot a Fire 2 spell at the SOLDIER, which hit him dead on. Then, Yuffie charged up to her SOLDIER and slashed his helmet off with her shuriken and fired an Ice 2 spell directly at his face, finishing him off.

Cait Sith, meanwhile, had a magic battle with his SOLDIER, both casting a number of level two spells at each other. Once Cait managed to blast the SOLDIER dead on with a Quake 2 spell, the cat blasted a Fire 2 spell at the stricken SOLDIER. The Shinra warrior stumbled back, then raised their assault rifle and was about to use up his clip on Cait Sith, however, he managed to leap behind a tree and fired a Bolt 2 spell at him. While the SOLDIER was down, Cait Sith charged at him and slammed the SOLDIER with a serious of blows with his megaphone, finally managing to take down his opponent.

After a short while, Vincent was starting to feel the effect of the dart. He felt tired and somewhat sick, but it didn't hinder him as much as he was sure the young Turk was hoping. The gunslinger figured that, had that dart gone into one of his teammates, they would be suffering from the poison, but since he had been altered, his advanced body managed to fight off the effects better than his allies. Also, despite the slight sickness he felt, he managed to retain the upper hand in the battle.

Vincent charged at Reno and slammed his metal claw into the Turk's face, causing him to stumble backwards, and prepared to attack further but Reno had a surprise of his own. He slammed the rod into Vincent's shin, but didn't do nearly as much damage as Reno had hoped, for Vincent managed to grab the younger's neck and punched him in the face once more with his claw. Then, to finish off the turk, Vincent tossed Reno a few feet away, then pulled out his revolver and fired a few shots at his opponent.

Reno stood and instantly Rude ran up to him, avoiding his own two enemies. Then the two turks faced all five of their opponents, and turned to each other. "All right, you guys got lucky this time," Reno replied with a grin.

"Gee, that sure sounds familiar," Yuffie cockily replied.

Rude looked down and sighed, "I'm sick of these kids beating us…"

"Yeah, I know," Reno shrugged. "Oh well… I sure hope their friends are having a good time in the temple."

"What do you mean?" Tifa asked, concerned about the others.

"Well… where do you think Tseng and Elena are?" Reno laughed. "Well, we'll be off!"

The two turks ran to the helicopter, which instantly flew off.

"Oh no… We have to go help them!" Tifa exclaimed, turning to the others.

"…" Vincent was silent for a moment, then stood forward. "No, we have our job and they have theirs."

"What are you saying?" Tifa asked.

"They will be able to handle themselves," Vincent answered, turning and picking up the enormous magnum that Reno had dropped. He inspected it and noticed that the barrel was slightly irregular so, without proper bullets, it could misfire and possible jam up the barrel. He would have to conserve this ammo, and be sure to check any Shinra soldiers for this type of ammo.

"We should at least call them!" Yuffie exclaimed, glaring at Vincent.

Vincent looked back and shrugged, then turned his attention back to his newest weapon. Yuffie rolled her eyes and took out the PHS, calling Cloud.

* * *

Cloud, Aeris, Red XIII, and Cid were making their way through the temple, there were often beasts that attacked them, which were actually protecting the temple. That was clear, as there were some bodies of fallen Shinra SOLDIERs. However, the team was able to easily make their way through the temple, until they reached a room which was in utter darkness, except for one lit path, with a large strange globe in the center. 

Cloud stepped in and instantly he felt his foot sink, he looked down and saw that there was a large pad there. Suddenly he heard a rumbling and boulders began falling down the path and off the other side. "Shit!" Cid exclaimed. "Damnit Cloud! Watch where ya step!"

"We'll be fine," Red XIII told the grumbling pilot as he watched the boulder's path. "Each boulder is oddly shaped… there's a groove in them, if we crouch down when the groove is facing the lowest part, we should be just fine."

"Aw great…" Cid murmured.

"Wait, just let me go first," Cloud said, looking over towards the end of the path. "There might be a trigger over there to stop the boulders like the one over here."

"Yeah, all right," Cid shrugged.

"Be careful, Cloud," Aeris told him, grabbing his arm.

"I'll be fine," Cloud smiled at her and headed towards the boulders. He waited until one boulder had gone past and then ran as fast as he could, but the boulders were still going too fast. He looked back and saw the groove that Red XIII spoke of, then crouched down, just as the boulder passed over him. He looked around, somewhat surprised that he made it through just fine, but then hurried again, and got to the end of the path, where the boulders fell off. Cloud leapt out of the way of the boulders and landed on a pad identical to the one on the other side, and instantly the boulders stopped falling.

"Are you ok, Cloud?" Aeris called as she and the others starting running across the path, but suddenly Aeris stopped, right in front of the large globe, which caused the others to stop as well.

"Let's go, Aeris!" Cid told her.

"No wait…" Aeris mumbled looking at the globe.

Cloud started running towards her, sensing something was wrong, and shouted, "Aeris, what's wrong?!"

"Oh no!" Aeris exclaimed, running closer to the globe. "Cloud! Come quick!"

The whole team ran after her, Cloud jumping right to her side, all looking up at the globe. "What is it, Aeris?" Cloud asked, feeling a very ominous essence from the globe.

"Full of knowledge...consciousness... a living soul... It's trying to say something," Aeris paused and seemed like she was struggling to listen. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. What? What is it? ...Danger? An evil... consciousness? ...show? You're going to show me?"

Suddenly, the globe lit up and showed a room the must have been further down the temple. "What is this…?" Red XIII murmured.

"Wait!" Aeris exclaimed, pointing at the globe. "It's going to show us!"

Suddenly Tseng appeared in the room, seeming to inspect the strange writing on the walls. Then Elena appeared and said, "What's this writing…? Can this lead us to the Promised Land?!"

"Possibly…" Tseng said, turning towards Elena. "Anyway, we have to work on our report for the president."

"All right," Elena sighed. "Be careful, Tseng."

"Yeah, yeah," Tseng replied, then said as Elena began to turn. "Hey, Elena, what are you doing tonight?"

"Uhh… umm…" Elena muttered, surprised by the question. "N-Nothing… I think…"

"How about dinner?" Tseng cocked his head as he asked, looking over at her.

"Y-Yeah! Of course!" Elena exclaimed, her cheeks bursting with red. "I-I gotta go!"

She then ran off and Tseng chuckled to himself, then turned back to the wall, once again inspecting the strange writing. "Hmm… is this the Promised Land…?" Tseng murmured to himself.

Suddenly, Sephiroth appeared on the globe and spoke, "So… you opened the door… good job…"

"S-Sephiroth!" Tseng exclaimed, tearing his pistol out of his suit coat and aiming at Sephiroth. "This place… what is it?"

"A lost treasure house of knowledge…" Sephiroth answered, glancing around at the wall, completely ignoring the fact that Tseng had a gun to him. "The wisdom of the Ancients…" a hideous grin formed on the villain's face, "I am becoming one with the planet…"

"One with the planet…?" Tseng asked, a clear expression of confusion plastered on his face.

"You stupid fools," Sephiroth growled and glared at Tseng. "You have never even thought about it. All the spirit energy of this Planet. All its wisdom... knowledge... I will meld with it all. I will become one with it... it will become one with me."

"Y-You…" Tseng muttered, lowering his pistol in fear, "You can do that…?"

"The way…" Sephiroth told him, turning to face the wall, looking over all the writing. "Lies here…"

Sephiroth paused for a moment and then, in a flash he was on the opposite side of Tseng, his katana out and covered with blood, and Tseng falling to the ground, with his own blood quickly surrounding his body. Sephiroth then turned facing them through the globe, "Death awaits all of you," Sephiroth sinisterly told them. "But do not fear… it is through death that a new spirit energy is born… Soon, you will live again… as a part of me."

Suddenly, the globe glowed white and the vision was going, changing back to normal. "Tseng… I can't believe I actually feel sorry for him…" Aeris muttered, her hands held over her chest as though she were praying.

"I understand, Aeris," Cloud said, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "But there's nothing we can do for him now."

"Now, we must find the room with the pictures," Red XIII announced. "Sephiroth said that is where all the information is… we might be able to find out his true plan."

"How the hell are we supposed to know where it is?" Cid asked.

"…" Aeris was silent, looking up at the empty globe. "We're almost there…"

"Sephiroth is here, right?" Cloud exclaimed, with newfound inspiration glowing in his eyes. "I don't care what his plan is! We're going to end it here!"

"All right!" Cid exclaimed. "Lets keep movin'!"

The team continued on and encountered a room like a clock, with clock hands moving it. Aeris seemed to be able to control it, with her innate ancient power, she could speed up, slow down, and stop the hands on the clock, and at each hour point there was the number in roman numeral and a door. "Oh great…" Cid mumbled, taking out a cigarette and quickly lighting it. "How are we supposed to know which door to go through?"

"…" Aeris was silent, but Cloud could tell she was communicating with the ancient protectors of the temple. "Through there…" Aeris answered, pointing to the room number six. Aeris somehow manipulated the clock hands (the rest could only assume it was a power that only ancients possessed) so that they could walk from their current door to the door number six. They headed through there and saw an enormous door directly in front of them. "There…" Aeris said, carefully watching the door. "That's the room with the murals…"

"Sephiroth…" Cloud murmured.

"Cloud, are you sure we're prepared to take on Sephiroth?" Red XIII asked his leader.

"We don't have a choice, either way we need to get in that room, if he's not there, then we can at least find out what his real plan is," Cloud told his animal teammate.

Cid sighed and tossed his cigarette to the floor, then stomped it out, "I guess… this could be it…"

"Oh my god!" exclaimed someone from behind them. They all spun and saw Elena standing there, looking with wide eyes at the group. "Damnit!" Elena exclaimed. "Where's Tseng?!"

"…Tseng…" Aeris muttered, looking up towards the door.

Elena instantly took out her cell phone and called Tseng, however, shortly after, she put her phone away, "He didn't answer… where could he _be_?!"

"You… don't know…?" Aeris asked.

"Know what?!" Elena shouted. "What did you do to him?!"

Aeris wordlessly looked up at the door, and instantly Elena charged, shouting Tseng's name. "No! Wait!" Cloud shouted. "Sephiroth!" But it was too late, Elena had all ready stormed through the door. Cloud looked at the group and commanded, "Come on!"

The team stormed in after Elena and was partially glad to discover that Sephiroth had left, however, Elena stood shocked over her slain leader. "T-Tseng…" Elena mumbled.

"I don't think Sephiroth is here…" Cloud told the group, causing them all to lower their defenses somewhat.

"How could you do this to him?!" Elena suddenly shouted, tearing out her gun and spinning around. "I'll make you all pay for this!"

Instantly, the group reorganized their defenses, but then, Sephiroth appeared out of seemingly nowhere between the two parties. "Sephiroth!" Cloud exclaimed, grasping the handle of his sword tighter.

"S-Sephiroth?!" Elena shouted. At first she looked like she would attack the former Shinra general but then a look of dread quickly covered her face. "I-I gotta go report this!" She charged out of the room, her cell phone already out and dialing.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud almost growled. "Now I'm going to finish this!"

"So cold…" Sephiroth murmured. "But I am always by your side… Come… splendid… a treasure house of wisdom…"

"I don't understand what you're saying!" Cloud bellowed.

"Look well at this wall…" Sephiroth murmured, then turned and faced Cloud with his shining green eyes. "… I am becoming one with the planet…"

"How can you become one with the planet?" Aeris asked, truly worried about the fate of her true land.

"It's simple," Sephiroth grinned. "Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit Energy to heal the injury. The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury… What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the Planet? Think how much energy would be gathered!" Sephiroth paused to laugh for a moment, then continued, still partially laughing, "And at the center of that injury, will be me. All that boundless energy will be mine. By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence. Melding with the Planet... I will cease to exist as I am now... Only to be reborn as a God to rule over every soul."

"An injury powerful enough to threaten the existence of the planet…" Aeris mumbled, beginning to understand.

"The mural," Sephiroth said as he crouched down. "The ultimate destructive power… Meteor…"

"That'll _never_ happen!" Cloud shouted.

Sephiroth looked over at Cloud with his sinister green eyes, then Cloud heard, inside his head, _Wake up!_ Suddenly, Sephiroth was gone, leaving the group alone with Tseng's dead body.

"Wh-where'd he go?!" Cid exclaimed quickly searching around the room.

Aeris joined the team in the search, when she turned to Cloud and noticed something weird. He seemed to be twitching while he looked over the murals, switching into various strange positions. "Cloud?" Aeris asked.

Everyone looked over at Cloud as he laughed, "Ha ha ha… meteor… ha ha ha… black materia…"

"Cloud!" Aeris exclaimed, running to his side. "Get a hold of yourself!"

"Cloud…" suddenly Cloud stopped twitching and grasped his head in his hands. "I'm Cloud… How should I?... I remember now!"

"Cloud?" Aeris asked. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Cloud shrugged as though nothing at all had happened. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh!" Aeris exclaimed, surprised to see him acting perfectly normal once more. "W-Well Sephiroth got away…" Aeris replied, looking at the others to convince them to go along with the idea of Cloud being fine.

"… Oh…" Cloud replied, disappointed. "Oh well, I think I understand his plan anyway," Cloud said, then walking up to the mural on the wall, which depicted some people praying and something large above them. "This must be meteor… right?"

"I'm not sure…" Red XIII muttered, looking at the picture. "It seems to be falling from the sky…"

"… This must be magic…" Aeris announced, drawing everyone's attention, as her face seemed to suddenly switch to a look of complete understanding. "Just what Sephiroth was saying, the ultimate destructive _magic_, Meteor. It finds small drifting planets with its magic… and then collides with them," a look of dread replaced the look of understanding, "this planet might get wiped out entirely..."

Cloud turned and looked towards the back of the room, and saw a small table like structure, on top of which looked like a miniaturized model of the temple. "What's that?" Cloud asked, as he began walking towards the structure.

Then, once Cloud got close enough, a large roar erupted the otherwise silent temple. The doors burst opened and an enormous red dragon marched through, fire blowing out of it's mouth as it roared. "Damnit Cloud!" Cid shouted as he tore out his spear. "You jus gotta trigger every trap, dontcha?!"

To respond, Cloud tore out his enormous blade and charged at the beast, slashing at its large stomach, only to discover that it was a heavy armor to protect itself. "Shit!" Cloud shouted, as the dragon tried to slash Cloud with it's claws, but Cloud managed to block it with his sword.

"Cloud!" Aeris shouted, then quickly conjured up a Ice 2 spell, which distracted the beast, giving Cloud enough time to fall back.

Next, Red XIII and Cid unleashed a combination of Cid's Ice 2 magic and Red XIII's Quake 2 magic, striking the beast at the same time. The ground beneath it began to crumble with Red's spell, and Cid's magic prevented the beast from being able to avoid the quake spell. The beast quickly countered by stretching out it's neck and blowing fire directly at Cid and Red XIII. The feline creature managed to escape with a slight burn, but the pilot wasn't quite as lucky. Cid leapt out of the way, but not far enough, only off by a few feet, he scrambled to his hands and knees and crawled the rest of the way, but not until the flames reached him.

Cid made it out of the flames, and was rolling, his large Shinra jacket had been lit aflame. Cid's rolling manage to douse the flames, and Aeris quickly helped her friend with a cure 2 spell, almost completely healing him. Cloud, meanwhile, used the beast's attack to his own advantage. With the beast's outstretched, unprotected neck, Cloud managed to leap on the dragon lower neck, where it connects to his back, and slammed his blade into is neck, then ran up the neck, continuing the cut all the way up it's long neck to it's skull, finishing off the dragon.

"I… I'm kinda disappointed we had to kill it…" Aeris sighed.

"Why in the hell do ya say that?" Cid shouted as he looked over his now burnt jacket.

"It was just the Ancient's defense against any intruders…" Aeris sighed. "It's too bad it couldn't be prevented…"

"Oh well," Cloud shrugged, wiping off his blade then reattaching it to the sling on his back. "Come on, lets check this thing out."

Cloud inspected it, "It says something," pointing to an inscription on in front of the model of the temple, "But that isn't English…"

"…" Aeris went up to it, then seemed to hear the letters in her head. "B… l… a… c… k… m… a… t… e… r… i… a…"

"Black materia!" Cloud exclaimed, then grabbed the model of the temple, which caused the entire temple to shake. "What the?!"

"Wait!" Aeris exclaimed as Cloud let go of the model. "Let me ask… I don't understand…" Aeris muttered, then her face looked shocked. "What?! The temple is the black materia itself!"

"This huge temple?" Cloud asked. "Then no one could take it."

"Hmm, it's pretty hard," Aeris explained, looking at the strange device in front of her. "You see this is a device which gets smaller each time you solve a puzzle. As the model becomes smaller, you become smaller too, until it's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand."

"So…" Cloud muttered, trying to understand. "If we solve puzzles… it'll get smaller, until we can just take it out."

"Yeah…" Aeris nodded. "But there's a problem. Eventually, the temple will get too small, and we'll be crushed by it."

"Damn…" Cloud murmured. "I guess the Ancients wanted to make sure that the materia would be safe…"

"So, I guess this is best left alone," Cid suggested.

"No," Cloud said, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Sephiroth would have no problem with one of his flunkies losing their life to get the black materia…"

"So…" Red XIII mumbled. "What can we do?"

"I don't know…" Cloud answered, struggling to come up with an answer, when just then his PHS rang. "Hello?"

"Cloud!" a voice exclaimed from the other line. "It's Yuffie! We just had a fight with Reno and Rude, we're fine but they said that Tseng and Elena are somewhere in the temple!"

"Yeah…" Cloud mumbled. "We know. Tseng is dead, Sephiroth killed him."

"Sephiroth!" Yuffie cried. "Is he there?! Do you need our help?"

"No, he left but…" Cloud mumbled then told his story to Yuffie, who put it on speakerphone so everyone could hear.

"I have an idea!" Cait Sith exclaimed. "Let me take care of the puzzles inside! Since this body's fake, it won't make any difference anyway!"

"No way!" Barret exclaimed. "You'll backstab us again!"

"I agree with Barret," Cloud announced over the phone. "We can't let Sephiroth get the black materia, but we can't let the Shinra get it either."

"Cloud, you need to trust me," Cait Sith told him. "Besides, you don't really have any choice."

Cloud sighed, however, knew that he was right. "All right," Cloud grudgingly replied.

"Ok, great!" Cait Sith exclaimed. "All right, Tseng said that there was an exit through one of the doors in the clock room… do you know where I'm talking about?"

"Yeah," Cloud answered.

"All right!" Cait Sith exclaimed. "You have to open the door though, then I'll be waiting right outside!"

"Ok," Cloud replied, closing the PHS and putting it into his pocket, then turned to his group. "All right, Cait Sith is going to come in and solve the puzzles, then we'll be able to get the black materia before Sephiroth."

"If that little bastard doesn't betray us again…" Cid mumbled as he took out another cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag from it.

"Yeah, we'll have to be prepared for anything," Cloud sighed. "He said there was an exit through the clock room somewhere…"

The team left the room and returned to the clock room, surprised to see that there was a straight path to the XII door. Also, Aeris no longer had control, but they were pleased when they discovered that it lead directly to the exit. Cloud guessed that it was natural for the temple to try to get the group out, plus they were probably trying to help Aeris, since she was the last remaining ancient.

Cloud opened the door and Cait Sith leapt through, the creature leaping and being as cheerful as always. "Cait, I swear that if you betray us-" Cloud began, but Cait Sith just sighed.

"Yeah, yeah," Cait Sith rolled his eyes. "Barret all ready went through all this…"

"All right…" Aeris replied, feeling sort of strange.

"Well… everyone… take care, I'll handle this," Cait Sith told them.

"Oh man…" Aeris sighed, almost feeling like hugging the strange creature. "Thanks, Cait Sith… good luck."

"Thanks, Aeris," Cait Sith replied, then headed towards the clock room, as everyone left, but Cloud stayed back.

"Cait Sith…" Cloud said, causing the creature to look back at him. "Thank you… and I really hope that you already know what the right thing to do is."

"Yeah," the cat atop the moggle nodded. "Thanks, Cloud."

Cloud nodded then left and rejoined the rest of his group. "How are you guys doing?" Cloud asked the other part of his group.

"We're fine," Tifa answered.

"You should know that the Turks don't stand a chance against the all powerful Yuffie Kisaragi!" Yuffie exclaimed, but everyone just ignored her.

"We should go to the front of the temple," Vincent answered, the secret entrance being in the back of the temple. "That's probably where we'll get the black-"

Suddenly, the temple violently shook, and then got significantly smaller, although it was still very large. "Cait Sith must have solved a puzzle…" Red XIII silently said.

"Come on," Cloud said turning and running for the front. "We need to make sure that we can get the black materia before Sephiroth sneaks in and takes it!"

The team ran over to the front, when the temple shook once more and shrunk again, now it seemed as though there were a moat surrounding the temple. "Come on guys," Cloud said, "The black materia will probably appear at the bottom of the hole."

"Wait!" Barret exclaimed, instantly causing the leader to stop.

"What is it?" Cloud asked, turning as the temple shook and shrunk once more.

"We need ta make sure the Shinra doesn't show up!" Barret exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," Cloud nodded. "All right, I'll go down myself and you all stay back here!"

"What about Sephiroth?" Vincent reminded. "What if he waits until the black materia forms to show up?"

"Damn… good point…" Cloud mumbled and sighed. "All right… how about Aeris, you come down with me and Vincent and Tifa stay close for support, the rest of you stay make sure there aren't any Shinra around. We'll call if there's any trouble."

"Aight," Barret nodded, everyone obeying their leader.

Cloud and Aeris started to climb down the hole until the temple shook once more and shrunk. After about another fifteen minutes, the temple had shrunk to the bottom of the hole, and Cloud and Aeris completed their climb down, while Vincent and Tifa stayed up to cover them. By the time the two made it to the bottom, the temple became even smaller, then it shook once more, and glowed a bright black and a strong feeling of power and darkness overcame all four of them, even though Vincent could just barely see it and Tifa being unable to see it at all.

"Finally!" Cloud exclaimed, then grabbed the materia.

_Cloud…_ Cloud heard a voice say in his head, when suddenly Sephiroth appeared in front of him.

"Sephiroth!" both Aeris and Cloud cried, causing Tifa and Vincent to instantly turn their way.

Suddenly, Cloud grasped his head screaming, and stumbled to the ground, "Cloud!" Aeris cried, running to his side.

"Sephiroth!" Vincent exclaimed, aiming his gun down at Sephiroth and firing, but once it got close enough to Sephiroth the bullet exploded, and revealed a shield around him. "Damn! I can't shoot him until his shield goes down!"

Suddenly, Cloud stood, with Aeris still clinging to his arm. "Cloud!" Aeris exclaimed, crying out of fear of what's going on. "What's happening?!"

Cloud glared down at Aeris, his eyes no longer a calm blue but a blank blue, seeming to have no emotion whatsoever… as though he were a puppet, which seemed to cause everything to slip into place. _The temple was warning me… of Cloud_, Aeris thought frantically. _That's why that dragon attacked… it wasn't just some ordinary defense measure, it was to try and stop Cloud!_

Cloud then harshly swung his arm, causing Aeris to fly into the dirt wall. "Aeris!" Tifa screamed from above. "Cloud! What are you doing?!"

Cloud then began to slowly walk towards Sephiroth, with the black materia still in his hand. "Cloud! Stop!" Vincent bellowed. "You can't give the materia to Sephiroth!"

However, that's exactly what Cloud did. Once the black materia was in Sephiroth's hand, he bellowed a harsh laugh, and flew off. Vincent aimed his new enormous magnum at the villain as he flew above them, but it was all ready too late, for the villain was long out of sight.

Cloud then turned to the frightened Aeris who was still up against the wall. "Aeris…" Cloud muttered, then collapsed unconscious to the floor.

* * *

There's another chapter down!

Don't forget to review!


	10. The Search for Aeris

Chapter Ten: The Search for Aeris

* * *

The team brought Cloud back to Gongaga and got him a bed at the inn there to rest, while the others waited on guard. Aeris decided to stay at the inn to keep an eye on Cloud while Barret and Cid decided to head over to the bar, Yuffie begging them the whole way to get her a bottle of vodka. A second Cait Sith, identical to the first, had showed up shortly after Cloud had collapsed, in fact before they even managed to get him out of the hole left by the temple. Tifa and this new Cait Sith were shopping, while Vincent decided to spend his time at the graveyard right outside of town. 

Vincent sighed, his thoughts based on the more recent events. Cloud for some reason giving the black materia to Sephiroth and then falling unconscious. If Sephiroth could do that to anyone, then none could possibly stop him, making Vincent wonder if this whole journey was even worth it. Then he sighed and decided that he should have to amend for his sin… stopping Sephiroth may be the only way to actually do that.

"Vincent?" asked a feminine voice behind the gunslinger.

Vincent stayed seated, still facing the graveyard, and replied, "Hello, Tifa."

"What are you doing here?" Tifa asked, walking to his side, to which Vincent simply shrugged. "A man of few words," Tifa replied with a slight chuckle. "Umm… but I wanted to talk about last night… at Gold Saucer…"

Vincent nodded, knowing she was talking about their time on the couch of the ghost inn. With all the recent events, that was easily forgettable, but, like his father once joked, 'women never forget'… of course, he may not simply be talking about kissing. "What about it?" Vincent asked.

"I… just wanted to ask if you…" Tifa said, struggling to find the right words. "If you… really felt… that way…"

"Tifa…" Vincent muttered. He felt like he had taken advantage of Tifa, she was vulnerable over the losing Cloud to Aeris and he was too stubborn to let her deal with it herself. "I… apologize…"

"What?" Tifa asked, wondering if she just heard him right.

"Let's just… forget about it," Vincent told her, still not facing her.

"Oh…" Tifa nodded, hoping he would say just the opposite. "That's… all right," Tifa nodded. She hadn't known Vincent long, but it didn't take too long for people to figure out that he was a loner… and he probably preferred it that way.

"Teef!" they heard someone yell from behind them. Both turned and saw Yuffie stumbling their way, with a liter bottle of vodka in her hand which was missing about a quarter of its contents. "N' Vinnie! Hey Vinnie!"

"Yuffie?" Tifa giggled, seeing her underage friend drunk was bound to be pretty entertaining.

"What are you guys doin' wayyyy out 'ere?!" Yuffie exclaimed, stumbling closer to the two.

"Nothing, Yuffie," Vincent replied.

"You guys weren't makin' out or nothin' were ya?" Yuffie joked, then stumbled almost to the ground, but was caught by Tifa.

"No, Yuffie," Tifa giggled again.

"We should bring her back to the inn," Vincent told Tifa, who nodded in agreement.

"What's goin on at the inn?" Yuffie loudly asked.

"Big party, Yuffie!" Tifa exclaimed to Yuffie as though she were a child. "Do you wanna go?"

"Hell ya!" Yuffie cried, trying to do a spin, but instead fell down, though she was caught by Tifa's supportive arms. "Whooo! Par-tay!" Yuffie shouted as Tifa and Vincent started walking back towards the town. "You goin' to the party Vinnie?"

"It's Vincent," Vincent coldly replied.

"Yeah yeah," Yuffie muttered.

As they walked through the town, they came across the bar, and, upon glancing inside, Vincent saw Cid and Barret drinking merrily. Vincent sighed, remembering days long ago when he might have walked inside and joined his two teammates. But those days were long gone and nothing good can happen when Vincent loses control, who knows what kind of demons he could unleash upon the world.

They arrived at the hotel, Vincent opening the door as Tifa helped Yuffie in. There was a single door on the opposite side of the room which held the only room the inn had. Vincent helped Tifa get Yuffie inside and saw Cloud on one of the two beds, and was surprised to see that Aeris was no longer here. "I wonder where Aeris went…" Tifa murmured.

Vincent shrugged, then Yuffie shouted, "she must have gone out for more booze, huh, Vinnie?"

Vincent ignored her while Tifa laid Yuffie down in the bed, despite the young ninja's protests. "I think Aeris left a while ago," Vincent told Tifa, as he inspected the team's gear. "Also… her things seem to be missing…"

"What?!" Tifa exclaimed, looking over the gear with Vincent, just to make sure, then only to discover that he was right.

"What's goin' on?" Yuffie drunkenly asked, standing from the bed and stumbling her way over to them.

"I can't believe it!" Tifa exclaimed.

"I'll find the others," Vincent told Tifa, turning to leave the hotel. "You make sure Yuffie stays put."

"Where are ya goin, Vinnie?!" Yuffie shouted as he left. "Gettin' more booze?" Yuffie then looked over at Tifa, "I figured he'd start drinkin' sooner or later."

Tifa laughed at the thought of a strict, cold guy like Vincent being drunk, then told her younger friend, "I think you're gonna have a wait a while longer."

* * *

_Everything is white…_

_What did I do? I don't remember anything…_

_My memory… Since when…?_

_If everything is a dream, don't wake me._

_Cloud?_ A foreign voice called. _Can you hear me?_

_Aeris…?_

Suddenly the white was gone, and Cloud was standing in a foggy forest, which truly seemed to be in a fairy tale. All the trees were enormous and bright green, and the heavy fog on the ground made it seem as though it weren't real. Then, standing about five feet in front of Cloud stood Aeris.

"Aeris…" Cloud muttered, looking over her, wondering if it truly is a dream or not. "I'm… sorry about what happened…"

"Don't worry about it," Aeris told him with a smile.

"…" Cloud looked down at his boots. "I… can't help it…"

"Oh…" Aeris said, then enthusiastically replied. "Then just don't worry about it!"

"Don't worry about it…?" Cloud asked, never even considering that was an option.

"Yeah, just let me take care of it myself," Aeris told him. "So that you don't have another breakdown."

Cloud glanced around the forest, still partially certain that it is all a dream. "What is this place?"

"This forest leads to the City of the Ancients..." Aeris explained, walking around the forest, moving left, then reappearing to Cloud's right. "And is called the Sleeping Forest. It's only a matter of time before Sephiroth uses Meteor, which is why I'm going to protect the planet. Only a survivor of the Cetra, like me, can do it. The secret is just up here. At least it should be… I feel it. It feels like I'm being led by something. I'll come back when it's all over."

"Aeris?" Cloud asked as Aeris ran off. "Wait!" Cloud shouted and tried running after her, only to discover that his body wouldn't move an inch. "What's going on?!"

"Hmm…" Cloud heard a sinister voice murmur from above, and suddenly Sephiroth appeared to Cloud's right, leaning up against a tree. "She's thinking of

interfering? She will be a difficult one, don't you think?"

"You leave her alone Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted.

The sinister villain turned to him, his green eyes glowing from mako exposure, then said, "We must take care of her soon."

In an instant, Sephiroth was gone while Cloud tried to yell and scream for Aeris and tried to run after her, but to no avail, his body no longer did anything like it was supposed to.

* * *

Suddenly, Cloud sprang out of bed and instantly saw that Tifa and Barret were standing right next to his bed. "Tifa? Barret?" Cloud asked, looking around, unsure of where he was, but then realized he had more concerning matters. "Where's Aeris?!" 

"Aeris?" Tifa asked, hesitant to answer. "She… left, Cloud. Everyone's out looking for her."

"She's heading to the City of the Ancients," Cloud told the two, as he sat up in the bed and put his feet on the ground.

"By herself?!" Barret exclaimed. "We gotta get there too!"

"Only the Ancients…" Cloud told them, then shook his head, deciding to correct himself. "Only… Aeris can stop meteor…"

"Then we _have_ to go," Tifa replied. "If Sephiroth finds out what she's doing, she'll need protection."

"…" Cloud was silent for a minute, then said, "Sephiroth already knows…"

"Then why the hell are you jus sittin' around?!" Barret shouted. "We gotta get goin!"

"No," Cloud shook his head. "I might lose it again… If Sephiroth comes near me… I might…"

"Ya, ya," Barret replied. "Lissen man, people doan always understand themselves. It happens all tha damn time, but people don't jus give up when it happens, they keep livin' their lives."

"Cloud…" Tifa said, looking into her leader's eyes. "We came this far… are you really thinking of giving up now? Don't you want to settle the score with Sephiroth?"

"No…" Cloud slowly shook his head. "I don't know what could happen… If this keeps going on, I think I'll go crazy!"

"If ya give up now," Barret told him. "Then we might as well jus hand Sephiroth tha damn world. There are so many people on this planet n' your willin' to give up on all of 'em, including yoself."

"Cloud… you'll come with us, right?" Tifa pleaded.

"Come on, Tifa," Barret told her, the two leaving the inn and regrouping with the team outside.

Cloud glanced out the window, seeing the sun begin its rise up to the sky, and sighed. "… I'm afraid to find the truth…" Cloud muttered, still staring out at the skies. "But… why…?"

Cloud turned to a mirror that was in the room, and stood in front of it, studying his reflected self. The ex-SOLDIER just couldn't understand what had made him give the black materia to Sephiroth. Cloud thought maybe Sephiroth could do that to anyone, but then he remembered how it felt like he was split in two. One part watching and trying to stop himself from doing it and the other seemed… like it wanted to help Sephiroth… needed to help him.

"What am I supposed to do?" Cloud muttered. "Run away? Where… where could I go…?"

Cloud sighed and then turned to the door walking outside of the inn, where he was surprised to see the whole group was standing there, waiting. "Are you coming with us, Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"I…" Cloud sighed, he couldn't tell them all that he was giving up… could he?

"Don't cha worry, Cloud," Barret said, smacking him in the back hard enough to make Cloud stumble forward. "If ya start acting all goofy again, I'll smack ya upside the head and bring back yo normal self."

"But…" Cloud mumbled.

"If it happens," Vincent said, stepping forward. "It happens… You don't have to worry about it, Cloud."

Cloud looking into Vincent's blood red eyes, knowing that the half-demon was speaking the truth. "He's… right…" Cloud muttered, then looked over at Tifa. "He's right, isn't he?"

"Yeah, Cloud," Tifa nodded, going along with Vincent's idea. She knew that Cloud had to come along, he was their leader, after all. "Just… don't worry about it."

"Come on, Cloud!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Let's go get Aeris!"

"Yeah," Cloud nodded with a smirk. "She's heading to the City of the Ancients, through the sleeping forest."

"The City of the Ancients?" Red XIII asked. "That's on the northern continent. Some of the scientists at Cosmo Canyon studied there."

"All right!" Cid exclaimed. "Let's get in my ship and go!"

"Geez, no need to yell," Barret said, grabbing his head. "With takin' care of spike here, your yellin' ain't helpin my hangover at all."

Yuffie snuck up behind Barret and bellowed into the dark man's ear, "_Let's go already!_"

Barret stumbled forward, clutching his head and cursing, while the others laughed. "Ya damn lil bitch!"

Yuffie giggled and ran to the opposite side of the group before Barret could recuperate himself. "All right, that's enough," Cloud announced before Barret could do anything to the youngest member of AVALANCHE. "We have to go help Aeris."

"Yeah!" Yuffie exclaimed from the opposite side.

"Yeah, definitely," Barret agreed, still clutching his aching head. "Jus… jus no more yellin, aight?"

* * *

It took the team almost two full days to get to the northern continent. Since Cid absolutely refused to drive the ship through too deep of water, it took them a long time to find a good enough path for the pilot. Once they finally made it to the northern continent, Cid parked the ship on the nearest beach, and everyone disembarked, Yuffie instantly jumping out and puked up whatever was left in her stomach, which couldn't have been much since she had been puking during most of the trip. 

"Thanks for takin' the long way," Yuffie puffed after heaving up the remains in her stomach. "Old man…" Yuffie managed to finish before her stomach seemed to suddenly get better.

"Old man?!" Cid exclaimed, taking out a cigarette and quickly lighting it. "Lousy little-"

"Cut it out," Cloud instantly said, already heading north bound, looking towards a forest in the distance with binoculars. "I think that's the sleeping forest…"

"Screw that!" Yuffie cried out. "I'm tired! _And_ it looks like it's gonna get dark soon."

"Let's just keep going," Cloud told the group. "We'll stop once it gets too dark."

"In the forest?" Vincent asked, stepping closer to the group, putting away his freshly cleaned revolver. "More monsters will come out at night…"

"Then we'll continue on and get into the city of the ancients by night!" Cloud exclaimed, causing all others in his group to respond with a frown.

"You kiddin' me?!" Cid shouted. "We don't even know where the damn place is!"

"Cloud we all want to save Aeris," Tifa told her friend, trying to find the nicest way to say what needed to be said. "But… if we show up there completely worn out, we wouldn't be able to help Aeris at all."

"There's something over there!" Yuffie exclaimed with binoculars in her hand, jumping up and down and pointing northbound. "It looks like it's right before the forest!"

"We'll head there," Vincent told the group, although speaking mostly to Cloud. "Then we'll figure out everything else."

"Yeah," Cloud reluctantly nodded. "All right. Let's get going then."

* * *

It didn't take them long to reach the structure which the people residing there called Bone Village. Which was strange, since it didn't even seem like a village; there was only one actual building, which was an inn, some stands for weapons dealers, a number of tents, and several people, most of whom were digging.

"What is this place?" Cloud asked one of the people as he entered the village.

"Bone Village," answered an older man. "It's a great digging site… but that's about all there is to it."

"Did you see a young woman go through here?" Cloud asked the man.

"Yep," the old man nodded, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. "Some other fella too…"

"Long, silver hair?" Tifa asked.

"Yes ma'am," the man nodded.

"Then we have to hurry out of here," Cloud told his group. "Let's hurry through the woods, then we might be able to make it to the City of the Ancient before it gets too dark."

"Hmm… you wanna get through the forest, eh?" the man interrupted. "Then you'll need the Lunar Harp."

"The Lunar Harp?" Cloud asked. "What's that?"

"The forest is protected, see?" the old man said, pointing to the woods. "The young woman who showed up here had the harp and unlocked the forest, then she buried the harp somewhere here… said it was to protect herself."

"She… buried the harp?" Cloud asked, understanding that Aeris was trying to protect herself. "The other man… the one with long silver hair, he had to dig it up then, right?"

"Actually… for some odd reason, he managed to get right through," the man said with a grin. "Must have been one tough son of a bitch…"

"Great…" Cloud sighed, crossing his arms. "You… didn't happen to know where she buried it, did you?"

"Yeah, as a matter o' fact I do," the man said. "Buried it up there on that ledge, it might take a coupla hours for yous guys to find it. Some of my men can take care of it within an hour… for a price."

"You cheap-!" Barret exclaimed. "We gotta hurry through those woods ta save that woman ya saw!"

"Oh!" the man exclaimed. "In that case you should definitely hire my men!"

"Why would we even need to get a harp to get into the forest anyways?!" Yuffie exclaimed.

The old man shrugged, "Couldn't tell ya… but ya do."

"Sounds like bullshit if I ever heard it," Cid told the old man.

"Oh yeah?" the old man chuckled. "Then what's stoppin' ya? Go for it."

"Fine," Cid exclaimed, walking up to the forest. Cid stepped closer and just as he neared the first tree, a barrier suddenly shined, preventing anything from going through it. "What the hell?!"

"Told ya," the old man told the cocky pilot.

"How much?" Cloud sighed as Cid cursed that the old man was right.

"Hmm…" the old man thought. "Fifteen hundred."

"Fine," Cloud growled, taking the money out of his wallet and slamming it into the man's hand. "Just hurry up."

"I'll get it to ya within an hour," the old man replied, turning towards a tent.

"Great…" Cloud mumbled. "Now we have to wait even longer…"

"Just relax," Tifa told her angry leader. "Come on, they might have some new equipment here."

"Yeah, all right, but be sure to stay close by, we'll meet inside of the inn," Cloud announced to his group. "The minute we get that harp, we're leaving. I doubt Sephiroth will show Aeris any mercy, so we need to get there as fast as possible to protect her."

"We'll need to hurry through that forest," Barret told the leader. "It'll get pretty dangerous if it gets too dark."

"Then we'll need to book it," Cloud coldly replied, turning around and heading inside of the inn to wait for the old man.

Barret grumbled something for being ignored and wandered off, while Vincent, Tifa, Yuffie, and Cid walked over to the weapons dealer. Vincent glanced over the weapons and saw a double-barreled shotgun on the counter with four materia slots on it. This gun would easily overpower any of his current weapons (except the gun he got from Reno) and since there is a good chance that they'll face Sephiroth, he would need it.

"How much for the shotgun?" Vincent asked.

"Oh, nice eye," the man behind the counter said. "That baby could blast down a damn tree."

"How much?" Vincent asked again, never one for small talk.

"Twenty-five hundred, no less," the dealer said, then thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "…And I'll throw in fifty shells for an extra two hundred."

Vincent didn't say anything and instead just took out his handgun and revolver. "Do you have any shells for these? It's a nine millimeter and forty five caliber."

"Yeah…" the man said, taking up a large tacklebox from beneath the counter, opening it to reveal a wide variety of different shells. "How about the shotgun, and fifty shells for each weapon for… twenty-nine hundred."

Vincent nodded, taking out his wallet and handed the man the exact amount of gil. He then strapped his shotgun on his back, underneath his cape, and put the ammo away, then turned back, noticing Tifa looking at a pair of gloves. She paid the man then took the gloves, selling her old ones to the man and putting on the gloves swinging them through the air at an invisible opponent.

"Damn," grumbled Cid as he took out a cigarette and lit it. "No spears, huh?"

"Nope, sorry sir," the dealer said, turning his attention to Yuffie, who was looking at a shuriken.

"Damn kids…" Cid grumbled to Vincent. "Hell to this, lets go get some drinks, eh Vince?"

Vincent raised an eyebrow at the pilot, "We may be fighting Sephiroth once we get to the Ancient capital."

"All the better reason to drink!" Cid exclaimed, then laughed heartily, slapping the gunman on his back. Vincent ignored the pilot's gesture, simply walking a few feet away from him. "Oh come on, Vince, I'm just kiddin' around."

"Ok," Vincent replied, walking off towards the inn.

"Come on," Tifa said, following the gunslinger. "Let's go wait with Cloud…"

"What's gotten into him?" Yuffie asked, drawing Tifa back to Yuffie and Cid. "He's so… like obsessed!"

"He's just worried," Cid told the young ninja. "He's pussy whipped."

Yuffie giggled at Cid's words while Tifa put her hands on her hips. "Pussy whipped, Cid?" Tifa asked defiantly, with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah!" Cid exclaimed, staring at the younger woman. "Oh come on… don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

Tifa rolled her eyes and turned to Yuffie, "Come on, Yuf. Lets go play some cards or something."

"Ok!" Yuffie exclaimed, quickly following Tifa into the inn.

"Women…" Cid muttered shaking his head.

"Hey…" the man behind the counter mumbled, looking around his counter. "What happened to that shuriken…?"

Cid chuckled, knowing exactly what had happened to it, and then followed the two women into the inn.

* * *

Within an hour, just as the old man promised, he returned to the inn with a small harp in his hand. The harp, in fact, didn't even seem like a real harp, but a small model of one, making Cloud question it. "Are you kidding me?" Cloud asked, outraged at the small object. "_That's_ the Lunar Harp?" 

"Yessir," the old man said with a cigarette in his mouth.

Yuffie instantly started laughing at the sight of it, "That's no harp! It's a toy!"

"Call it what you want. _I _call it the Lunar Harp."

"How is this little toy supposed to unlock the forest?" Cid asked.

The old man shrugged, "I dunno… the music from this thing takes down the barrier. Also, be sure to leave the harp on this side of the barrier."

"Yeah, whatever," Cloud said taking the tiny harp out of the old man's hand. "Let's just go." The team followed Cloud up to the forest. Cloud took out the harp and sighed, "Now what do I do with this…?"

"Hold it up to the barrier," Vincent told the ex-SOLDIER.

Cloud, not caring at this point for details, instantly did as the gunman said, and suddenly they heard a sound emit from the tiny harp. Quickly, the sound got louder and louder, the majestic music suddenly filling the entire village, then began to get quieter as quickly as it had gotten louder. The music was gone and, Cloud quickly discovered, as was the barrier. Cloud laid the harp on the ground and charged into the forest, not waiting for his teammates to follow, although they instantly did.

Cloud was amazed by the forest, instantly knowing that this was the place where he'd seen Aeris and Sephiroth in his dream. He was amazed, but knew that he would have to hurry to the City of the Ancients to help Aeris. He felt almost as though he had to, almost as though something was making him go to the city, but for the time being he didn't care about any of that, all he cared about was getting there.

Tifa looked around at the forest in utter amazement. There was a light fog that made the entire place seem as though it belonged in a child's fairy tale. Of course, it probably would have been much more beautiful had it not been so dark, so that she could look around in amazement at the bright green colors. Of course, she didn't have much time to look around, as Cloud hastily made his way through the forest, not seeming to care whether the others were behind him or not.

"Cloud!" Tifa called as Cloud charged through the forest. "Slow down!"

"We can't slow down!" Cloud shouted at his team from the distance. "Sephiroth might all ready be at the City of the Ancients! We need to hurry and save Aeris!"

"Cloud," Vincent spoke, already at Cloud's side. "It won't do Aeris any good if we run through the forest and show up at the city breathless and too tired to fight. Besides, we can't go this fast, we might get separated."

"Vince is right," Cid told his leader as the rest of the team started to catch up. "We can't go too fast."

"But Aeris-!" Cloud then stopped himself and sighed, regaining control of himself, despite how much he felt he needed to hurry. "Fine… but we're at least jogging. If not for Aeris, then for ourselves, we can't stay in these woods too late or else the beasts'll start hunting."

"That's fine," Tifa nodded, then hurried along with the group.

Thankfully, the forest wasn't too large and any beasts that got in their way were easily taken care of by Cloud as they all jogged through the forest. Tifa was beginning to worry about Cloud, she could see how he would be so worried about Aeris but something about him just seemed so different. She, too, was deeply worried about her dear friend, but Cloud seemed almost like he was losing it. She was worried that, should they arrive in the city too late, that Cloud might go crazy.

Vincent noticed the same thing. Vincent understood why Cloud was acting so strange, however, it was concerning how Cloud seriously seemed to be out of his own control. Vincent knew that this could be a hard situation for the young leader, should they face the worst and he knew that he wouldn't be able to help him. Vincent couldn't save himself from losing a loved one, how was he supposed guide another?

Cloud charged through the woods and any beast that would get in his way would quickly be slashed apart with Cloud's mighty sword, which he held over his shoulder, prepared for use. Cloud would slowly start running faster and faster, slowly enough so that the group wouldn't notice and instead just try to keep up. He felt so compelled to get there, he _had_ to get there. He didn't care about him or his teammates getting tired, he just knew that he absolutely _had_ to get there in time.

Soon enough, there were less and less trees and the ground became harder and harder, eventually becoming nothing but rock. They ran to the first true opening they saw since entering the forest, which turned out to be at the edge of a cliff, and looked ahead. The moon was beginning to rise into the sky, which showed them the mysterious ancient city. There were a number of strange large seashells surrounding the area, the ground was not unlike the ground they now stood on, except there was even less vegetation, there wasn't a hint of green anywhere down there.

"Is… that it?" Yuffie asked, looking down over the edge.

"Yes," Vincent responded looking down at the city without much interest, as usual.

"How do you know?" Cid asked.

"This isn't my first time here…" Vincent answered, casually glancing over the area once more. "…hasn't changed much…"

"Why were you here before?" Tifa asked, curious about the gunman's past life.

"We can talk as much as we want later," Cloud rudely interrupted. "We have to get down there and save Aeris!"

Although the group didn't like how Cloud kept rushing them, they all knew that he was right. Especially now that it was getting rapidly darker, they knew they would have to get there and possibly find shelter. The team walked over to the edge, where they found a fairly thin trail which lead down to the city. It wasn't too thin, but they all had to go down single file and, at some points, be particularly careful, especially for Barret and Cait Sith, since they held the bags.

Once they reached the entrance to the city, there were three separate ways that they could travel: straight, left, and right. Cloud stood forward, he suddenly didn't feel one bit compelled to go anywhere, he felt like he was in just the right place, despite the fact that they don't know where Aeris was. For some reason, however, Cloud felt that they wouldn't be able to find her or Sephiroth here, though Cloud shook his head, trying to get rid of such thoughts. Cloud turned to the group, all of whom, besides Vincent, was curiously looking around.

"It's so quiet…" Yuffie murmured, slowly looking around the strange surrounding, almost frighteningly. It was understandable, with the moonlight the whole place seemed so surreal and haunting… like an abandoned town. "I… I don't think _anyone's_ here…"

Everyone was quiet, all thinking that the worst must have all ready happened, but knew they couldn't give up now. "Well les find out," Barret replied, trying to keep the team's hopes up.

"We'll split up into three groups," Cloud announced, then sighed, never liking to split up the group, especially now, since Sephiroth was sure to be in the area. "Red XIII, Yuffie, and Cait Sith, you guys go right, Barret, Cid, and Tifa go left, Vincent and I will go straight. We'll meet right here in a few minutes, if you guys find anything, call me, sound good?"

The team agreed and did as their leader said, all going their separate paths. Cloud and Vincent headed straight ahead, towards a large seashell, which was next to a small pool of water. "What are these things?" Cloud asked as he headed towards a small opening in the shell.

"Homes…" Vincent answered, faithfully following his leader.

"The ancients lived in these…?" Cloud asked just before he stepped inside, glancing at the gunslinger, who nodded back at him.

Cloud walked inside, and was surprised to see that there was a spiral walkway along the edge of the seashell, which led upwards. Cloud followed the walkway up to the top, where it appeared as though it should go on, but didn't. However, after all the years the walkway must have stood, Cloud was surprised that any of it still stood.

"No sign of Aeris..." Cloud muttered, confirming his thoughts.

"Perhaps the others found something," Vincent told the leader, trying to give him some words of encouragement. "Let's head back."

Cloud stepped to the edge of the walkway and looked down, noticing that there seemed to be no bottom to the shell. He felt something strange then… but decided to ignore it for now, there was no way he could get down there anyways. "Yeah," Cloud nodded, then followed Vincent down the steps.

They were the first to return, which wasn't surprising, since they didn't have much to explore, however, Vincent knew that neither of the others had much to explore either. Within fifteen minutes, the whole team had reunited, none finding any sign of Aeris or Sephiroth.

"So… what now?" Tifa asked, she held her arms close to her chest, as it was starting to get cold as more stars appeared in the sky.

"We'll rest here…" Cloud answered, crossing his arms and thinking, having no idea what to do from here. "Then… I guess we'll have to figure out what to do in the morning."

"There was one of those seashell thingies over there that had some beds!" Yuffie exclaimed, pointing down the right path.

"Let's go," Cloud nodded as Yuffie led the group.

* * *

There's another chapter. 

Thanks for all the reviews guys and keep them coming!


	11. The End of the Search

* * *

Cloud seemed to have taken up Vincent's position on the team, as he sat staring into the flames, not speaking. Everyone decided to leave Cloud be, the ex-SOLDIER undoubtedly had a lot of things on his mind. Truthfully, the whole group had a lot on their mind; none of them said much of anything. They were all worried about Aeris and not much was said around the campfire, but there was still some talk.

"So, Vince," Cid said as he lit up what probably was his fifth cigarette since they had started the fire. "Ya said you were here before… what's that all about?"

Vincent sighed, though figured he would have to say something about his past at some point. "I traveled here a long time ago…" Vincent explained slowly, as if carefully decided the words he would say. "We were searching for an ancient…"

"You were searching for an ancient?" Tifa asked, several glances shooting towards Vincent, including Cloud. "Do… do you mean there might be more ancients?!"

"Perhaps…" Vincent answered. "But I doubt it."

"Did you ever find the ancient?" Red XIII suddenly spoke up. "If we find the ancient you were searching for, then we might be able to help Aeris out even more."

"We found her," Vincent answered, sounding somewhat regretful. "Her name was Ifalna…"

"Ifalna?" Tifa asked then sighed. "We won't be able to find her then… that was Aeris's mother."

"I figured as much," Vincent responded, nodding slightly. "She looks a lot like Ifalna, as I recall."

"…" Cloud was silent but kept his glare at Vincent, seeming uncertain if he should be furious. "Did you capture her?"

"No," Vincent replied quickly. "I was to find her, not capture. I believe we were going to talk to her about the ancients in a non-aggressive manner, therefore, I wasn't necessary after I found her."

"Do you know, was she really the last ancient?" Red XIII asked with some hope in his eyes. The whole team knew that the ancients were the key to all of this, although none of them really knew much except that the ancients could speak with the planet, since everything was still so confusing.

"I'm certain," answered Vincent as calmly as usual.

Tifa sighed; Aeris was her best friend and now she was god-knows-where and could be battling Sephiroth. What was worse is that the weight of the world was all on her friend and there was nothing Tifa could do to help. For all she knew, it could be too late for the last ancient. Tifa shook her head, trying to get the thoughts out of her head; she had to have hope for her friend… that was all she could do for Aeris now.

"Any idea where we're goin' tomorrow, Cloud?" Cid asked as he stomped out his cigarette.

Cloud deeply sighed as he glared into the fire, then turned to the pilot, "No… I was so certain Aeris would be here…"

"Maybe she had to leave," said Tifa, trying to be as nice as possible. The ex-SOLDIER was probably suffering terribly for not finding Aeris. "Either way, Cloud, I think you should go get some sleep."

"Who'll take the night shift?" Cloud asked, although he sounded somewhat uncaring.

"I'll cover that," replied Vincent.

Cloud sighed, looking into the fire one last time, "Yeah, all right. Night, guys."

"I'm comin' with ya," Cid said, following their leader into the seashell house, and before long, Tifa and Red XIII followed them inside.

* * *

Tifa walked inside, being the last in. Red XIII had gone in roughly ten minutes before and she saw him lying down on a rug on the first floor, close to a chair. Tifa sat in the chair, figuring that all the beds were taken, and closed her eyes, trying to get some rest.

Not longer than thirty minutes later, just as Tifa was about to finally sleep, she heard creaking, then heard the door open. Tifa had opened her eyes just enough to see the person leave, and realized it was Cloud who had gone outside. She was worried about him, despite everything that had happened, she did still have feelings for the former SOLDIER, and now he needed to be cared for.

Tifa stood from the chair and followed Cloud outside and, as she opened the door, she heard Vincent say, "What about the others?"

"What's going on?" Tifa asked as she stepped outside, quietly closing the door to make sure she wouldn't be heard.

"Sephiroth is here," Cloud said, turning to his oldest friend. His face was stern and strict, obviously he was very serious. "So is Aeris."

"But we looked everywhere," Tifa told him, trying to calm him down. "There's no way-"

"They're here," Cloud repeated. "I _know_ they are."

"Ok…" Tifa said, realizing that there was no arguing with him. Sometimes, Cloud can be pretty stubborn. "What are we going to do then?"

"We'll go look for them," Cloud told her, then turned to Vincent. "Just the three of us."

"The others are at risk," Vincent told the leader. "If you are right and Sephiroth is here, who's to say that he won't come here the minute we leave?"

"I'll keep guard," said a voice from behind Tifa. The door opened and Red XIII's nose found its way through.

"What about the others?" Tifa asked. "Shouldn't we at least tell them? If it's Sephiroth, we'll need everyone."

"…" Cloud was silent for a moment, crossing his arms. He was getting impatient, he wanted, _needed_, to get to Sephiroth and protect Aeris. "We don't have enough time. If something happens, we'll call you, Red, all right?"

The creature nodded, and Vincent and Tifa allowed Cloud to lead them to where he, for whatever reason, thought Sephiroth and Aeris were. He led them down the path that he and Vincent had gone down earlier, into the seashell home next to the pond. Cloud ran inside, with his two teammates close behind.

Inside, they were amazed to see that, in the center of the spiral staircase, was another spiral staircase, nearly transparent, only glowing slight silver, which continued from the top. "Down there," Cloud told them as he dashed to the new stairwell. "That's where they are.

The two quickly followed Cloud down the steps, which revealed a large cavern, in the center of which was a large platform. They ran down all the steps, just before some stones they could leap to the center platform, where they saw Aeris on her knees, seeming to be praying. "Aeris!" Tifa yelled to her friend, but received no response. "What's she doing?"

"She seems to be praying…" Vincent answered, eying the ancient curiously.

"I'm going up there," Cloud told the group, stepping closer and turning to his two teammates. "You guys wait here, in case Sephiroth shows up."

Vincent nodded and Cloud turned, then leapt from stone to stone, until he reached the center platform. "Aeris?" Cloud asked as he stepped towards her praying figure and suddenly, he felt his hand reach to his back and take out his massive sword.

Suddenly, he couldn't speak, he wanted to yell to Vincent and Tifa for help, to stop him before he did something horrible again, but he couldn't. He slowly stepped forward towards Aeris, who continued to sit in her praying form, seeming not to notice him. He then raised the blade over his head, preparing to strike her loving figure, as she continued to sit there as if nothing was happening. He struggled with every effort of his body to stop himself, but to no avail, nothing could seem to stop him.

Vincent saw this and instantly tore out his revolver and aimed for Cloud. He was prepared to destroy the ex-SOLDIER if he would continue. Everything that was happening was still confusing to the whole team, however, Vincent did know that an ancient on their side would be extremely helpful, if not necessary. Vincent pulled back the hammer and began to squeeze down on the trigger of the revolver, moving slowly as to make sure he gave Cloud every chance to stop.

"Cloud!" Tifa suddenly yelled from behind him. Vincent was glad she had done this, however. It seemed, in his long years of being a Turk, he forgot the possibility of someone being stopped merely with words, not bullets. "What are you doing?!"

That, thankfully, seemed to snap the leader out of his trance. Cloud, in shock of himself, stumbled backwards, dropping his sword to the ground and falling next to it. He stared at Aeris in fear of what he was about to do to the woman he loved. Then, Cloud looked up and saw a long thin blade flying down, towards Aeris, and behind the blade was the feared former SOLDIER Sephiroth.

Sephiroth landed behind Aeris and his blade was going through the woman's chest. Aeris suddenly looked up at her stunned leader, but there was no fear or worry on her face, instead there was just her beautiful loving smile. And suddenly, that beautiful glow in her eyes died down and her hands separated, dropping a clear materia, which fell down into the water surrounding the platform.

"Aeris…" Tifa sobbed from her spot, tears instantly rolling down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. "Aeris!"

Vincent crouched down next to her and held the young woman, and instantly Tifa nearly tackled him with a hug. Tifa sobbed onto Vincent's shoulder as the gunslinger glared up at Sephiroth. Sephiroth… the son of his beloved Lucrecia was now standing behind his late ally. Vincent was prepared to help Cloud, but knew that Tifa might not be able to handle doing anything just yet.

"Aeris…" Cloud muttered, unable to believe what had just happened before his very eyes. "This… this can't be happening!"

"Do not worry…" Sephiroth told his former comrade, still standing menacingly behind the last ancient. "Soon the girl will become part of the Planet's energy. All that is left is to go North. The Promised Land waits for me over the snowy fields. There I will become a new being by uniting with the planet. As will this girl…"

"…" Cloud kept looking at Aeris, then turned down to the ground. He balled his hands into fists and tears were streaming down his cheeks. "Shut up…"

"What?" Sephiroth asked, looking down at Cloud with amusement.

"Just shut up," Cloud snarled, glaring up at the feared warrior with fire in his eyes. "Your stupid cycle of nature and your stupid plan doesn't mean anything… Aeris is gone… Aeris won't ever talk… won't ever laugh… or cry… or get angry… what about us…? What are _we_ supposed to do?" Cloud then jumped to his feet, glaring at Sephiroth. "What about _my _pain?! My fingers are tingling… my mouth is dry… my eyes are burning!"

"What are you saying?" Sephiroth asked, then smirked. "Are you trying to tell me that you have feelings?"

"Of course I do!" Cloud bellowed. "What do you think I am?!"

Sephiroth laughed, then calmly spoke, "Stop acting as if you were sad… there's no need to act angry either…" Sephiroth then took a step closer to the shorter man, glaring down at him. "Because, Cloud, you are… a puppet…"

Suddenly, Sephiroth leapt into the air, and in his place stood an enormous monster, which Cloud recognized as another piece of Jenova, this one without any head. Cloud quickly grabbed his blade and charged at the beast, stabbing his blade into the beast's stomach. He then leapt back, and rose his sword, allowing all his anger to flow through his muscles, and he slammed the blade down to the ground, and released a beam of energy which hit the mighty beast, causing it to stumble back.

While this was happening, Vincent quickly pulled Tifa away from him, holding her by the shoulders. "Tifa," Vincent told her, looking deep into her eyes. "Cloud needs our help now, we have to go."

Tifa turned and saw that Cloud was now battling a strange Jenova monster, similar to the one they fought on the cargo ship. Tifa quickly leapt from stone to stone to the center platform, cracking on her knuckles, and Vincent followed, replacing his revolver with his new shotgun. Tifa, as soon as she reached the platform, which was right after Cloud performed his limit break, leapt up and slammed her fist repeatedly into the beast's stomach, then flipped backwards, behind Vincent, who fired the double barrel shotgun directly at the beast.

The creature bellowed out in rage after the mighty blast, and then Cloud leapt high into the air and slashed the beast across its mighty chest. Vincent dashed up and blasted the beast once more with the double barrel shotgun at point blank range, then Tifa blasted a Fire 2 spell at the beast. Everyone was fighting with all their fury and sadness over the recent death of their dear friend. Vincent was surprised to see his teammates working so skillfully, they reminded him of his old Turk team, how well they had all fought together, each complimenting the others in one way or another. Finally, Cloud used a Bolt 2 spell, then followed up by finishing the monster by slashing it once more. The powerful Jenova beast stumbled backwards and fell into the water, which was its final resting place.

With the monster gone, Tifa began to break down again, tears falling down her cheeks once more as she walked up to her friend. She knelt down next to Aeris and felt for a pulse and wasn't surprised to discover that there was none, which caused another sob. She stood and started walking backwards, still sobbing. Vincent and Cloud exchanged a glance, "I'll take care of her," Vincent told the ex-SOLDIER as he wrapped a supportive arm around Tifa's shoulders and escorted her off the platform and up the staircase.

Cloud walked up to Aeris and knelt down in front of her, wrapping her in his arms, as he released a small sob himself. He took a deep breath then lifted the body up, and carried it up and out of the seashell home. Once he made it outside, which had been a short while as he was still in such disillusion about everything that was happening, Cloud was surprised to see that the entire group had gathered in front of the home.

Everyone watched wordlessly as Cloud glanced over the group, though everyone's eyes were on who was in his arms. Yuffie instantly fell to the ground sobbing and Tifa quickly wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and cried along with her. Cloud looked down at Aeris, feeling tears well up in his eyes, but decided to hold them back for now. Now was the time to prove his leadership, to do the right thing, and the right thing was to let Aeris go to rest.

Cloud turned to the pool of water that was next to the seashell home and walked towards it. The pool looked as though it were the sky, the moon and countless stars reflecting on the calm water. It looked like the perfect place for Aeris to return to her precious planet and Cloud knew that it would be. He walked into the pool and continued going until he almost reached the center of the pond, where he noticed that it got drastically steeper. This was the perfect spot.

A tear slid out of Cloud's eye as he slowly lowered Aeris into the water, for a moment he held her there, at the top of the water, gazing at her. He felt so stupid, like he had wasted all that she and he could have been. They had loved each other and, if only it weren't for Sephiroth, who knows what could have happened? Cloud sighed and then moved his arms from underneath Aeris's body, allowing it to lower into the water.

Cloud watched as Aeris lowered into the water until he couldn't see her any longer and sighed once more, then wiped his eyes before he turned back to his team and slowly walked out of the water. Still wordless, Cloud walked back to the seashell home and rested on one of the beds, not caring about how wet his clothes were. He closed his eyes but knew he couldn't sleep, though he had no problem with having his group thinking he was asleep, all he wanted was some peace and quiet now.

That was exactly what Cloud got, as the rest of the team remained outside around the fire. Tifa and Yuffie were the only ones sobbing, though they had gone a little ways away from the group to be alone with their sobs echoing through the air, and the rest sat around the fire quietly watching the flames, all lost in their own thoughts. "So…" Barret finally spoke. "What happened?"

"It seemed…" Vincent answered, his eyes not leaving the flames. "That she was praying… Cloud decided to go up there alone and then Sephiroth leapt down and killed Aeris… Then Sephiroth released a Jenova beast that we took care of…"

"That's it?" Cid asked, enraged that they didn't know anything about what Aeris was doing here. "Do you have any idea why Aeris was praying? Or what she was doing up here in the first place?" Vincent sighed and shook his head. "Shit…" Cid murmured as he stomped out one cigarette and replaced it with another.

Vincent hated the idea that Aeris's death was in vain, but it seemed like that was exactly what had happened. They had no idea what she was doing here but whatever it was it certainly didn't stop Sephiroth. Without any idea of what she was planning there was no way that they could continue it and now, without the help of an ancient, Vincent wasn't even sure if they could stop Sephiroth.

"Did Sephiroth say anything?" Red XIII suddenly asked, breaking Vincent's pessimistic train of thought.

Vincent blinked and suddenly realized that he probably did. He knew that Cloud had been yelling at Sephiroth, though it was hard to hear them over Tifa crying, even with his superhuman hearing. "Possibly," Vincent answered after a moment of thinking. "I couldn't hear them though. You'll have to ask Cloud in the morning."

"If nothing more, at least we know we're close to Sephiroth," Red XIII sighed, lying on the ground looking into the flames.

"Ya, I guess…" Barret mumbled. "Damn Sephiroth…"

Cid took a deep drag of his cigarette then stomped it out with his foot. "I'm goin back to bed," said the pilot as he walked in.

"Ya, me too," Barret said, storming into the seashell home.

"I think I'm going to sleep as well," Red XIII said after a long yawn. "If you get tired, you can wake me up, Vincent."

Vincent nodded but kept his gaze on the fire. A few moments later, he realized that the sobbing had stopped, and before long, the two young women showed up around the fire. Vincent didn't say anything to them as they sat down around the fire, then Tifa spoke, "Did the others go to sleep?"

Vincent nodded in response. He was hoping that they would go to sleep soon as well, as he liked his alone time. And now he had a lot to think about, and, for a welcomed change, it didn't involve anything that happened thirty years ago. "Vincent?" Yuffie suddenly asked.

Vincent glanced over at the youngest team member and asked, "What is it?"

"Without Aeris… do you think we stand a chance?" Yuffie asked, sounding as if she didn't really want to know the answer. "Me and Tifa were thinking… but we don't know for sure… what do you think?"

Honestly, Vincent thought that they didn't stand a chance. He knew that, hundreds of years ago, it was the ancients who finally defeated Jenova. Now, Jenova was back, but the last ancient was just killed. Did humans really stand a chance against her now? No, Vincent thought, but he knew that he should try to encourage the girl without completely lying.

"I don't know," Vincent answered after a moment.

Yuffie looked down and sighed, "That means no… doesn't it?"

Vincent glanced over at the youngest member of their team. She was merely sixteen and she was all ready battling against what could be the greatest enemy the world has ever known. Not to mention the fact that she just lost one of her best friends. Without any hope, what did the young ninja have?

"No, it doesn't mean that," Vincent replied somewhat sternly. "We may find a way to defeat Sephiroth yet. We can't give up now. To give up now would mean that Aeris's death would be in vain. We have to keep fighting, Yuffie, and I have little doubt that we won't figure something out."

Yuffie looked over at the gunslinger. Despite the fact that she didn't believe that Vincent was saying what he truly thought, it was encouraging, especially for it to come from someone who rarely ever talks. Fact of the matter was, Yuffie was forming a small crush on the mysterious gunman, and any words from him were enlightening for the young ninja.

"Ok," Yuffie nodded, still sad and doubting him, but knew very few words would comfort her right now. "I'm going to bed, night guys."

"Goodnight, Yuffie," Tifa replied and Vincent simply nodded as the ninja went into the home. Once she was gone, Tifa glanced over at Vincent and asked, "Do you really believe that?"

"…" Vincent was silent for a moment. Tifa was a grown woman while Yuffie was still young and he trusted that Tifa could handle the truth. "I believe that there's still a chance…"

"But not much of one…" Tifa finished, resting her head in her hands and sighing. "Aeris was pretty much our last hope, wasn't she?"

"I don't know…" Vincent murmured.

Tifa looked into the flames and sighed, "I miss her all ready… Why did this have to happen to her…?"

"She knew the risks," Vincent told the bartender. "It was her decision to come here alone… I'm certain that she must have known that Sephiroth would follow her…"

"Then why would she come alone?" Tifa said and uttered a very silent sob, which she instantly tried to hide. "Why would she do something like this if she knew that Sephiroth was coming?"

Vincent wasn't planning to respond, but then he realized something. "Perhaps…" the gunman muttered. "Perhaps she did accomplish whatever it was she came for… perhaps that's why she allowed Sephiroth to kill her… because she was ready."

Tifa looked through the flames towards Vincent, who was sitting on the opposite side, with water in her eyes. "Do you think that?" Tifa asked, knowing that she might start crying again if they stayed on the subject but truly did want Vincent's insight.

"It's possible…" Vincent shrugged, not sounding very confident about his theory. "Now I suppose we'll never know."

Tifa sighed again, she felt sobs emerging but struggled to suppress them. She was so saddened over the loss of her dearest friend despite the fact that they were in competition over Cloud. Worst of it all was that she knew that Aeris had beaten her, all for nothing. It hurt her to think how much Cloud was lost because of her death, because of the death of his loved one.

"Is everything all right, Tifa?" Vincent asked, noticing the look of despair on her face.

"Yeah," Tifa answered and fake smiled. "It's just that…" Tifa stopped, thinking that the gunman wouldn't care. Vincent hardly seemed to really care about anyone in the group and what would make her any different? She already knew that he didn't care for her… "Nothing… never mind…" Tifa murmured, quickly looking towards the fire to avoid his gaze.

She felt tears welling up in the back of her eyes and stood up, refusing to show any weakness. Showing weakness wouldn't help anyone and would only make people more worried about her, while she knew that she should help the group now in their time of need, not wallow in self-pity. "I'm going to bed," Tifa told Vincent as she stood and walked past him, towards the door. "Good night, Vincent."

As Tifa walked by Vincent, the gunslinger saw a tear slide down her cheek for the countless time today. Vincent felt bad for Tifa, she was easily the closest thing he had for a friend on the team. Vincent's natural coldness told him not to say a word as the martial artist walked by, however, some part of him wanted to say something. "Are you all right, Tifa?"

Tifa stopped for a moment just as she was grabbing the door handle and turned back to Vincent. She was surprised that Vincent would have said anything as she left, she wasn't even expecting a wish good night, but then this. "I…" Tifa murmured. Instantly the tears began to fall and Tifa felt like breaking down crying again. She had known Aeris longer than most people in the group and, for a long time, they were the only girls, so naturally they quickly became best friends.

Tifa lowered her head and the tears began to fall and she tried to stifle her sobs but didn't manage. Vincent stood and wrapped his arms around her shoulders for comfort, however, as soon as his arms were around her shoulder she turned and cried into his chest. Tifa embraced Vincent in a tight hug and he, slightly grudgingly, lightly wrapped his arms around her in kind. Tifa didn't cry then as much as she had when Aeris first died, which Vincent was thankful for, not because of Tifa but because he isn't used to such embrace nor does he deserve it.

Shortly after Tifa separated from Vincent, slightly embarrassed. She had never been so accepting to someone who she just barely knew. All she knew about him was that he was a turk, he had something to do with the Jenova project, and was good with a gun. And, of course, he was a pretty good kisser, but that was just about the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. One other thing she knew about him was that he didn't like to be touched, much less being hugged. "Sorry Vincent…" Tifa mumbled as she stepped back, wiping off her eyes.

"That's ok…" Vincent mumbled, looking at her carefully, his eyes seeming to see right through her.

"It's just that she was… she was my best friend…" Tifa told him as she finished drying her eyes. She then looked up at Vincent and flashed a wide fake smile, hoping it would trick the gunslinger. "Thanks Vincent. I'm alright now."

Vincent knew that the woman was lying however he completely understood her situation. Talking about the past doesn't help anything, everyone just needs their own way to get over the events so that they could move on to find a new solution. "It's alright Tifa," Vincent told her. "I'm sure you'll be fine."

Tifa was surprised what Vincent was saying, something telling her that he has faith in her. Vincent didn't seem like one to trust anyone and he always tried to take most things into his own hands, as though he didn't have confidence that the others would do it. For him to say this was a major surprise for her, he seems like he's starting to warm up more to her, which is something she's wanted for a long time now.

"Thanks," Tifa smiled then turned and stepped inside, allowing Vincent to be left alone once more.

* * *

Dawn had come after a long night for every member of the team, all of them had been up for a long time before they finally managed to sleep. Cloud, however, hadn't got a second of real sleep, his mind kept replaying everything that had happened since he had meet Aeris. He thought of all the loving smiles, her laughs, her anger… her soft and passionate kisses. Cloud wished he hadn't been so foolish; he was so late to finally truly realize how he felt about Aeris. Among the happy moments, his mind focused about half the night on how he had given the black materia to Sephiroth and how he had nearly killed Aeris himself.

_I… I don't know if I can keep doing this… _Cloud questioned himself.

_No… Sephiroth killed Aeris… Sephiroth destroyed Nibelheim… my mother… I have to destroy Sephiroth! I don't care what happens to me! I have to destroy Sephiroth no matter what!_

By dawn Cloud was re-resolved to continue his hunt for Sephiroth, all of this was Sephiroth's fault. He would follow Sephiroth to the end of the world if he had to, he would do anything it takes to get his revenge for Aeris. Cloud was up the minute the sun crept its way through the single window upstairs, and headed outside. He wanted to make sure that the group wouldn't leg behind, which most of them didn't.

None of them really got much sleep and were all up relatively early, which Cloud was very thankful for, as he wanted to head out as soon as possible. As soon as the last member woke up, in this case it had been Yuffie, Cloud announced, "All right, let's head out."

"Where to, Cloud?" Cid asked.

"Also, what did Sephiroth say to you?" Red XIII asked, taking Vincent's advice of asking him in the morning.

Cloud looked down, remembering what the villain had told him, "Sephiroth didn't say much… except that he's heading north."

"Do you know what Aeris was doing?" questioned Yuffie.

Cloud shook his head, "No… and I guess now we might never know… but, the way I see it, we still stand a chance. If we manage to get the black materia away from Sephiroth, we'll still be able to stop his plans. So, we'll head north…"

"Then let's not waste any time," Vincent said, speaking Cloud's mind. "Lead the way…"

Cloud nodded to gunman, thankful for his advice. "Let's go."

* * *

There's another chapter down.

Thanks for the reviews.


	12. Interviewing an Ancient

Chapter Twelve: Interviewing an Ancient

* * *

The team managed to make a good distance away from the ancient city by noon that day. They had just made it out of the rock grounded areas and were now situated in a cave, pausing for lunch before continuing. None seemed to happy about continuing on, except Cloud who was constantly trying to push them on, since ahead of them was a large snowfield.

"Does anyone know what's beyond there?" Yuffie asked. "Is there even anymore cities this far up north?"

"There is or… was a city," Vincent told the young ninja. "Icicle Inn… it's where I first found Ifalna."

"Wait, I thought you said that ya found her in tha ancient city," Barret mentioned as he ate a few of the chips they still had.

"No…" Vincent shook his head. "I never said that… however, I did journey through the ancient city in search of her… in fact I took this very path…"

"Really?" Tifa asked, always curious about the gunman.

"How long does it take to get to Icicle Inn?" Cloud asked.

"It took my team roughly… five hours…"

"Your team?" Cid blurted. "Were you the leader of the turks or somethin?"

"As a matter of fact I was…" mumbled Vincent, clearly not wanting to speak about it.

"Mmm…" Yuffie murmured, rubbing her stomach as she finished off the sandwich she had eaten. "It'll feel good to eat real cooked food again…"

"Your tellin' me," Barret replied as he put away the chips.

"Everyone ready to go?" Cloud asked, having been looking across the snowy lands ever since they had stopped, as though he were looking for Sephiroth out there.

The team all nodded, knowing that the sooner they left, the sooner they would get back to the warmth. Tifa wasn't looking forward to this, for she was wearing a tank top and a skirt, for her it would be freezing. Everyone had left the cave and she was the last, going out right after Vincent. She was hesitant at first but knew that she would have to go, so she grudgingly left the cave out into the freezing wind.

Vincent looked back to make sure that Tifa was still coming, as his hearing had alerted him that she was a ways behind the rest. He turned and saw her holding her elbows and looking down, careful to try and follow tracks that were already made in the snow. She looked up, noticing Vincent watching her, and flashed her familiar fake smile towards him as she slowly walked closer.

Vincent knew how cold it was going to get and that she probably wouldn't be able to stand it for much longer. The gunslinger unhooked his cape and handed it to Tifa as she walked up to him. "Won't you be cold?" Tifa asked.

"I'll be fine," Vincent nonchalantly replied.

As soon as Tifa took the cape, Vincent turned and continued to walk, knowing that he wasn't one to welcome thanks. Tifa let it go as she really was freezing, and she buttoned the clasps and then the cape wrapped it around her. It was much warmer than she had expected it to be, which she more than welcomed. Warm once more, she walked up and hurried, to make sure she wouldn't be left behind from the group.

It was a long, cold journey for the team. Fortunately, there weren't too many foes out on the frozen terrains, and any that did show up were quickly eliminated by Cloud, Vincent, or Barret. It didn't take long for Yuffie to start complaining about the cold either, so Tifa had allowed the young ninja to get under the cape with her, it was easily large enough to fit around the two women. It made Tifa wonder why Vincent would need such a large cape, but she figured she could ask him that some other time, maybe a good conversation starter.

It took their team about five and a half hours to make it all the way across the frozen plains and they were all very thankful for it. The instant they stepped in, Yuffie instantly started walking towards the inn towards the back of the town. "I'm gonna go get us a room!" Yuffie declared as she started walking off.

"Wait…" Vincent told the ninja, walking into the familiar town, towards a home directly in front of the town entrance. Without explanation, he walked up to the door and slammed his fist against it three times without any response.

"What are ya doin, Vince?" Cid asked, walking up besides Vincent. "Do you know someone who lived here?"

"Yes," Vincent responded, then tried opening the door, only to find it locked.

"I don't think anyone lives here anymore, Vincent," Tifa said as she walked up, looking at all the windows, which were boarded up. "Looks like this place is condemned."

"I realize that," Vincent told the woman as he then took out his glock and shot off the door handle, allowing him to enter the abandoned home.

"Vincent, I don't think we should do that…" Cait Sith said as the gunslinger went in. The group all looked amongst each other then each walked inside, despite the fact that they all thought that it was a bad thing to do.

"What is this place, Vincent?" Cloud asked as he stepped in. He glanced over the small home, there was a staircase to the right leading to a basement, a small bed up against the far wall next to a fireplace, and large out of place computers up against the left hand wall.

"This…" Vincent turned to the group. "Is Ifalna's home… I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we spent the night here."

"Good thinking, Vinnie!" Yuffie exclaimed as she ran inside and sat on the small bed and quickly sparked a fire with her materia in the fireplace.

All the team huddled around the fire except for Vincent and Cloud, who both were focused on the computers. "Why are all these computers here?" Cloud asked the gunman.

"…" Vincent was silent as he looked over it. "I don't know…"

"They ain't just computers," Cid said with a cigarette in his mouth, eying the equipment with a smirk. "They're also some old Shinra video recorders, by the looks of it," Cid told them, pointing up to a video camera above most of the equipment.

"They must have recorded Ifalna while they interviewed her…" Vincent muttered.

"It might hold some important information then," Cloud said as he turned to Vincent, who nodded in agreement, then turned to Cid. "Do you think you could get it working again?"

Cid took a deep drag from his cigarette then nodded. "Yeah, no problem," Cid answered as he walked over to it, glancing over the old equipment.

"Hey, what should we do for dinner?" Yuffie whined. "I'm starved!"

"Just be patient," Cloud told the ninja. "Let's wait until Cid gets this thing up and running before we go out to eat."

"Oh fine…" Yuffie grumbled, huddling closer to the fire and rubbing her hands.

Cloud headed down the steps to look around for places where the rest of the team could sleep. Once he reached downstairs he saw two more beds and a crib, as well as a number of pictures across the wall. They were pictures of a woman who looked incredibly like Aeris, expect perhaps a little taller, and a shorter man with black mustache and in a white scientist's coat. There were a number of pictures to the left most of the room of just them, towards the center of the pictures there were pictures of the two again, except this time the woman was much larger, Cloud realized that she was pregnant.

The rightmost of the pictures were of the two people and a small child, Cloud looked closer at the picture, realizing that it was baby Aeris and her mother, Ifalna, though he didn't know who the man was. Cloud then stepped over towards the crib, knowing that this must have been the crib that Aeris had slept in as a baby. Cloud rested his hands on the crib and felt a tear make its way down his cheek, though he quickly wiped it away.

Aeris had never gotten the chance to speak much with her mother and never knew her father, this she had told him a long time ago. If only she had made it a little further, she would have been able to discover all these things, even find out who her father was. Cloud held in his pain, deciding that it would be best to save it until he met up with Sephiroth to let it out. Vincent stepped down to find the former SOLDIER, who quickly turned as he heard the gunslinger make his way down the steps.

"Cid got the computers working," Vincent told him, then turned to go back up the stairs.

"Thanks, Vincent…" Cloud mumbled and was about to follow him, then quickly glanced over at the pictures. "Oh, Vincent," Cloud said, causing the gunman to turn back around towards Cloud. "Do you know the man in the pictures?"

Vincent glanced towards the pictures and took a step closer, a look of interest crossing his face. "Interesting…" Vincent murmured, glancing over all the pictures.

"What?" Cloud curiously asked. "Who is he?"

"Professor Gast… I'm… surprised to discover that he's Aeris's father…"

"Who's Professor Gast?"

"Hojo's predecessor," Vincent answered immediately. "He was a good, respectable man…"

"Doesn't sound like it," Cloud said as he folded his arms over his chest. "He put his own wife and child into a lab."

"…" Vincent was silent, then he turned and walked up the steps. Cloud followed him and barely heard the gunslinger say, "I have a feeling it wasn't him…"

Cloud looked questioningly towards Vincent, who ignored him and continued to walk up the steps. Confused, Cloud followed, to find Vincent and Cid around the computers. "Got 'er runnin for ya," Cid said, pressing buttons on the screen of the television. He pressed a few more buttons then stepped back, presenting the screen to Cloud. "These are all the files they have on this big ol' computer…"

Cloud glanced at it and saw the titles for each of the files: 'The Original Crisis', 'What Is "Weapon"', and 'Confidential'.

"So these are… videos?" Cloud asked the pilot.

"Yeah…" Cid nodded.

"Well, now that it's up and working, let's go get something to eat!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"You guys go," Cloud told the rest of his team, though his eyes stayed on the computer. "I'll stay here and watch these videos."

"Cloud…" Tifa muttered, worried about her friend. "You need to get something to eat…"

"I know that," Cloud nodded in agreement. "But I'm not really that hungry anyways. I'll just eat after I watch these videos, you guys go ahead though, alright?"

"I'll stay as well," Vincent told the team.

"Aight, fine," Barret told the two, heading towards the door. "Whatevah. I'm gonna grab somethin' ta eat."

"All of you can go," Cloud told them. "Vince and I'll fill you in on what's on the computer."

"Sounds good," Yuffie said as she rushed out of the home.

Tifa was the last to leave then realized that she was still wearing Vincent's cape, she'd gotten used to the familiar weight after the cape in the five hours of wearing it. "Oh, I'll bring you back your cape after dinner, alright, Vincent?" Tifa asked.

Vincent nodded, then turned to the video as it clicked on.

* * *

The team, with the exception of Cloud and Vincent, had gone out to the diner that was inside of the inn. The food was pretty good, and Cid and Barret got to talking to some of the people at the bar. They learned of a hiker who had traveled north, and the people were even generous enough to give them a map of the northern lands, which would prove to be very useful. 

The team all headed back before long, since they were all curious about what was on the video files back at Ifalna's house. The team returned to discover that the two men had just finished watching the tapes, both seeming deep in thought.

"Did you find anything out?" Red XIII asked as soon as he entered the room.

"Yeah," Cid asked as he tossed a cigarette into the flames. "What was on the tapes?"

"Basically…" Cloud began his rather long explanation. "Jenova appeared a long time ago, which they called a calamity from the skies, and its arrival caused a large wound in the planet. Several of the Cetra gathered together to heal the wound, but it took many years to do so. Meanwhile, Jenova traveled from clan to clan, infecting them with a virus, which made them go mad and become monsters. Eventually, the last of the Cetra managed to defeat Jenova."

"What about the other files?" Cid asked, glancing over at the computers. "What is 'Weapon'?"

"Weapon was a creature that the planet had made," answered Cloud. "It was originally made because it knew that it would have to destroy Jenova, but they were never used because it was the Cetra that defeated Jenova. The Weapons also can't vanish and they remain somewhere on the planet even now, Ifalna said that the Planet was closely watching Jenova, ready to use the Weapons if it needs to."

"Weren't there more?" Tifa asked, looking over Cid's shoulder at the monitor.

"Yeah," Cid asked. "I'm guessin' you watched these personal files."

"The other ones…" Cloud quietly mumbled, the other videos clearly affecting the former SOLDIER. "They were records of Professor Gast and Ifalna's child… Aeris… Then at the end…"

"Hojo came…" Vincent continued for his leader, glaring into the flames inside of the fireplace. "Hojo murdered Gast… and captured Ifalna and Aeris."

Tifa was taken back by this, as both men before her were probably devastated by the information. Cloud would be crushed because he found out that the woman he had loved was taken from her home as a baby by gunpoint. Vincent would be overwhelmed by this because she knew that, whatever had happened to Vincent so long ago, was Hojo's fault and the scientist is undoubtedly the gunman's greatest nemesis.

Cloud sighed then said, "If it's alright with you guys, I'm going for a walk."

"Oh wait," Cid said, taking out the map he had gotten at the inn from his coat pocket. "This is a map of the plains north of here," Cid handed the map to his leader as he left.

"Good work," Cloud told the pilot, putting the map into his back pocket, then left without another word.

The rest of the group went off to their own things, Cid and Barret headed over to the bar, the others, Yuffie, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Tifa, and Vincent all huddled close to the fire. Yuffie, never seeming to be running out of energy, was digging through a small nightstand that was right next to the bed. "Here we go!" Yuffie exclaimed, raising up a deck of cards as though it were something holy.

"Cards!" Cait Sith cried. "What are we playin'? Poker? Blackjack? Who cares, I'm in!"

"Five card poker!" Yuffie giddily proclaimed.

"I'm in," Red XIII told the other two.

"Tifa, Vinny, you guys in?" Yuffie asked.

"No," Vincent replied, standing then walking downstairs.

"O… kay…" Yuffie murmured as she watched the gunman walk downstairs. "What about you, Tif?"

"Umm," Tifa thought, then decided to go down and try to talk with Vincent. "Count me out this hand," Tifa told the ninja then followed Vincent down the steps.

Vincent was looking at the pictures on the wall and turned as Tifa came down the steps. "Hey, Vincent," Tifa warmly smiled.

Vincent nodded, Tifa taking that as a hint that he didn't really want to talk about anything. Tifa was right on the nose, after learning that Hojo, Vincent's most hated foe, had done even more things to deserve punishment. The more he heard about the scientist the more he wanted to be the one to deliver that punishment. However, he often wondered if he was one who was worthy to distribute the penalty, as what he had done wasn't much better, if better at all.

Tifa slightly frowned, knowing that Vincent had already been lost in thought, and decided maybe it would be good to get all those thoughts off his mind, for a change. And, since they were going to stay in the town for at least the night, it would be the perfect opportunity to do so. "Hey, Vincent," Tifa said, trying to think of something that they could do together. "Do you want to come get a coat with me?"

Vincent didn't want to do anything right now, he wanted to concentrate on Hojo and Lucrecia and Sephiroth and Jenova. All this new information on their enemy was quite a bit to process for the gunslinger, although he knew that he would be able to get through it his own way. Vincent shrugged, which Tifa knew meant he would rather not, but at that time didn't really care.

"Great!" Tifa exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm and instantly leading him up the steps before he could fight back.

Vincent knew that if he really wanted he could stop this immediately, yet, always a gentleman, wouldn't refuse with her being so forceful. However, as soon as they left the condemned home, he did take his arm back, instead walking along next to her. Vincent decided that he would play along with her for a short while, and then return to his thoughts as soon as he could.

Tifa was disappointed at the _only_ clothes store in the entire town, it was extremely small and didn't have many options. However, fortunately for her, since this was a year round snowy town, the largest selection they had was in winter gear. Tifa giddily stepped inside and Vincent hesitantly followed a few paces away, as he wasn't as hyped for this as Tifa clearly was. The last decent place Tifa had shopped for clothes was years ago, when she first came to Midgar. The shops below the plate were horrible but she would occasionally go up to the plate to shop, but, ever since she met Barret, she had stopped doing that, since all the shops up above had profits that went directly to Shinra, while the shops below were usually family owned.

Tifa first went to look for pants, which had a great selection for cold weather, and she managed to find some great black jeans, at a good price too. Tifa asked Vincent about it, who seemed pretty indifferent about the jeans, which wasn't all that surprising. Vincent wouldn't have been the best person to go clothes shopping with. However, Tifa did try them on and thought they fit and looked well, though she decided that she should still show Vincent, at least trying to start as much conversation with him as she could.

"What do you think?" Tifa asked the gunman, spinning around to show him the back of the pants.

Vincent glanced over her, looking pretty much indifferent, and she was expecting an indifferent response. Naturally, she was surprised. "Looks great …" Vincent told her with a nearly undetectable smile.

"Thanks," Tifa replied with a wide smile, though she was surprised that Vincent had even replied.

Tifa quickly shopped. Despite the fact that Vincent was constantly indifferent, she could tell that he disliked shopping. It wasn't very surprising that he disliked shopping, seeing as how he hated being in public and plus, being a guy, he probably naturally didn't like it. Eventually, Tifa had found an expensive black leather jacket and a long-sleeved white shirt, along with the black jeans.

Once she had finished, the two left she shop and began to walk back to Ifalna's home. Tifa decided to take this as an opportunity to try to talk to Vincent and get him to open up, maybe even smile.

"So, Vincent, thanks for the cape," she told him, handing it to him as she replaced it with her new jacket.

Vincent nodded, draping it around his shoulders and fastening the clasps. Tifa glanced up at his face and nearly forgot how much of his face was covered by the cape. She was dismayed and realized just how handsome Vincent's face really was, and his lower jaw seemed to draw it all together.

Vincent noticed this, then glanced down at the woman. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh!" Tifa exclaimed, quickly looking away, blushing like mad. "Uh, no, nothing!"

"Very well…" Vincent murmured. In another time, Vincent would have encouraged this behavior and do something about it, but that was a lifetime ago for Vincent. "We should return to Ifalna's home now."

"Oh…" Tifa murmured. "Can we go for a walk first?"

Tifa looked up at Vincent with a wide, hopeful smile on her face. Vincent should have said no, he was certain of it. He didn't want to encourage her behavior. It would be best for her to focus her attention towards Cloud than him, now more than ever since Aeris had died. However, he was sure that she needed it as well. He had noticed that she was always trying her hardest to cheer everyone up, she was undoubtedly trying to do it now with him, however, even she needed a break.

"Very well," Vincent nodded as the two turned and began to walk around the town.

"This town is so beautiful…" Tifa softly spoke.

"It is," Vincent nodded, glancing around at the ground.

"It's so much different than Midgar…" Tifa thoughtfully remarked, then looked up at the sky. "It's so nice to be able to see the stars… and all this beautiful snow… It's been a long time since I've seen snow…"

"How bad is Midgar, Tifa?" Vincent asked. The gunslinger had lived in Midgar almost his whole life before the incident thirty years ago, although from what he heard, it had changed quite a bit.

Tifa sighed, looking down. "Its... gotten so terrible. Everyone living below the plate has to live through a poor life, without any vegetation at all, except for the ones Aeris could grow, and no stars or moon or sun… It's… it's horrible… I wish everyone could live in a place like this…"

"I see…" Vincent murmured. "How was this done?"

"It was Shinra," Tifa told him. "After the war, Shinra took complete control over the government in Midgar, although no one cared. It was thanks to Shinra that we were actually able to win the war, so everyone only cheered when Shinra took control. But… they were wrong… so wrong. At first, Shinra seemed great until they realized just how much damage they were doing to the planet. The ground around Midgar is completely ruined since they suck so much mako from that area.

"That's why they built the upper plate. There, the rich could live without having to look at the ruined ground, and they left all the poor to live down there…"

"And you joined Avalanche to stop all this…"

Tifa nodded, clearly proud of her decision, "It had to be done, someone had to stand up to Shinra, but no one ever would. Then I met Barret and he was so… right. I know he comes off as an ignorant jerk sometimes but… but he really has a heart of gold."

Vincent nodded but continued walking. She wasn't sure if he expected her to go on, but she really didn't have much more to say. It was only about a year after joining Avalanche that she had run into Cloud, and during that year they hadn't done much, only a few sabotages to their delivery trucks and other minor things. It was really once they got Cloud's strength on their side that they decided they were strong enough to take down one of their reactors.

Tifa sighed. She was hoping that she would learn more about Vincent but instead she tells him more about herself. Then, she realized how she could turn this around on him. "Yeah, that's pretty much my story," Tifa concluded. "So what about you, Vincent?"

Vincent sighed and looked down. He wasn't about to talk to her about his past, so he would do what he usually did, which was not saying a word. Tifa, however, was used to this, but she had a plan.

"Oh come on, Vince!" Tifa exclaimed. "I told you about me, you should tell me a little about you! I mean, it doesn't really have to be important but just… something! Like… why did you join the Turks?"

"…" Vincent was silent for a moment, still debating whether he should speak or not. She did tell him quite a bit of information about herself, but that still didn't mean he had to tell her anything if he chose not to. However, he really did like Tifa, at least more than anyone else in the group, so he decided he could part that small bit of information. "My father was a scientist for Shinra, although I don't really remember him, since he died when I was very young. My mother raised me in Midgar until I was about twelve, and then she died from a brain embolism.

"I was going to be sent to my aunt and uncle, who I had never met, in Junon. However, I knew that isn't what I wanted, and so I ran off to the slums of Midgar and hid there for several years. When I was sixteen, I joined the Shinra Military because I had little options, at the time. There, I had quickly rose through the ranks and was offered the job of a Turk."

Tifa blinked, letting all the information in. She hadn't really expected Vincent to reply at all and then he suddenly speaks practically more than he had since she met him. However, the martial artist was glad that he was beginning to open up to her and hoped that, eventually, he would go further.

"Wow…" Tifa muttered. "I… I wasn't expecting all that…"

Vincent nodded, but continued walking. He surprised himself with sharing all that information, especially since it seemed to all just flow out of him. Really, he hadn't thought about any of those times in a long time, he was always thinking of his last days of his humanity, before he became a monster.

Tifa looked up at him, smiling her first true smile since Aeris had died, and said, "Thanks for telling me all that, Vincent."

Vincent nodded once more then the two continued on until they had reached a good distance away from the town, far enough so that almost the only light was the stars and not just the few city lights in the small town. Once there, Tifa looked up at the sky once more, then fell backward.

Vincent instantly spun and caught Tifa before she hit the ground, tore out his revolver, and quickly looked around for any foes. Tifa instantly started giggling as she looked up at Vincent's deep red eyes that majestically glowed in the night. However, they glowed with a fierce determination against any enemies which may have been in the area.

Tifa couldn't explain how she felt just then, but it instantly reminded her of Gold Saucer. She hadn't thought of that in a long time, she realized. She also remembered that Vincent suggested that they just forget about it, and she figured that it meant he wanted nothing to do with her, but, judging by his reaction, she thinking that she may have been wrong. She felt so safe in his arms and how quickly he had reacted made her feel safe, just like in Rocket Town when he had stayed behind to help her.

"Oh…" Vincent murmured, then got Tifa back on her feet. "What were you doing?"

"I _was_ going to make a snow angel!" Tifa exclaimed, still giggling.

"A… snow angel…" Vincent murmured, then he looked off in the distance.

Tifa instantly looked dismayed, sensing that she had brought him back to some memory of his past. "What are you thinking about, Vincent?" Tifa asked, hoping to get him out of his little flashback or have him open up about it. Tifa preferred the second option, but would settle for either, so long as they would stay out here together.

"Nothing…" Vincent softly muttered, looking down at the snow. "Let's return to Ifalna's home."

Vincent turned to leave, but Tifa quickly grabbed his human arm, to which he turned and looked back at her. She didn't see the determination in his eyes any longer, instead she just saw a horribly broken soul. She saw a soul that had been through far too much in its years, a soul that had been pushed to the limit and may never really return.

"Vincent, please…" Tifa begged. "What is it? Let me help you."

"Tifa please…" Vincent softly but sternly spoke. "Just let me go."

"Vincent please," Tifa begged with her widest puppy eyes. "I can help you, you just need to open up. _Please_ Vincent."

"Tifa… I apologize…" Vincent shook his head, took his arm back, then started walking back to the town.

Tifa sighed, but quickly ran back up to him. She had made a lot of improvement with him today and she wasn't about to throw all that away after this little incident. But she would be sure to learn from this, if he even forgave her for this, she would be sure not to push Vincent too far too quickly ever again.

Once she reached his side, she looked up at him, but he continued to look forward. "I'm sorry, Vincent…" Tifa muttered, feeling bad for bringing him back into his bad mood, if he ever came out of it, that is.

"It is I who should be apologizing," Vincent told her. "I…"

"Vincent, you don't need to apologize!" Tifa exclaimed. "If you want to keep it to yourself… well… I guess it's ok with me. I just want to be your friend, Vincent, and help you as much as I can. You know that, right?"

Vincent closed his eyes and inwardly sighed. He never really thought he would have someone to be a friend for him ever since he had been dehumanized by Hojo. But really, he supposed he was getting close to making friends with everyone in the group, especially Tifa. And if she wanted his friendship, he supposed he wouldn't deny her from it, although he still would keep whatever he wanted to himself. "Yes, Tifa."

"Then that's all you need to know," Tifa widely smiled, giving his human hand a quick squeeze, then returning her hand to her side, realizing he disliked contact.

"Are you ready to return to Ifalna's?" Vincent asked patiently.

"Yeah," Tifa smiled brightly back at him.

* * *

Theres another chapter down! 

Keep reviewing!


	13. Through the Blizzard

Chapter Thirteen: Through the Blizzard

* * *

For the most part, the team had gotten a good rest. The majority of the team were tired earlier, since their lack of sleep the previous night, and managed to get a good rest. Vincent, as usual, spent the night up and Cloud again had a long, sleepless night, his thoughts consumed with Sephiroth. Cloud was beginning to be frightened for his mental health, but he was convinced that once he managed to take down Sephiroth, everything would be alright. 

Once everyone had woken up, they agreed to first eat, then shop, since this could be their last chance before their final battle, and finally they would journey north, prepared for whatever may come. They all left Ifalna's home and headed over towards the café inside of the inn, since it was the only restaurant in the town. Fortunately, they had a wide variety of breakfast foods, all ordering something rather large, except Vincent, who was satisfied with just a coffee.

Once they had finished their delicious breakfasts, they left towards the weapon's dealer, who was right near Ifalna's home. They didn't have much variety, which wasn't too surprising, since few journeyed anywhere outside of the town, but they still had some decent things. However, for Vincent and Barret, the selection was poor, as the only guns they had were hunting rifles, which really didn't serve much of a purpose on a real battle field.

Some also went to the clothes store that Tifa had visited the night before to get some good winter clothes. Barret and Yuffie especially needed it, in fact Vincent was surprised that the two had made it through the snowfield as well as they did. After shopping, Yuffie showed off her new attire to the group, twirling around in her blue jeans and a black snowboarding jacket.

"What do you think?" she asked spinning around.

"Looks great," Cid sarcastically answered, rolling his eyes at the young ninja, which caused Barret to laugh and agree.

"Hey!" Yuffie angrily shouted. To get her vengeance on the two older men, Yuffie crouched down, picked up a snowball in each of her hands, and threw them at the two. Cid got his in the chest while Barret was nearly nailed right in the face, but he managed to block it with his hand.

"Enough playing around," Cloud announced. "Let's go."

Cloud led them towards the northern exit of the town, where there was a loud slope that led down to the snowy plains they would have to cross. As they walked towards the large slope, someone ran up to them, blocking their way forward. "Wait!" the person exclaimed. "You can't go on! There's a blizzard down there tonight, and it can be really dangerous!"

"We'll be alright," Cloud told them, slightly annoyed by the woman's interference. "We have a map."

"Well, that's better than nothing…" the woman murmured. "But I don't think you know how dangerous a blizzard can be…"

"Not just the blizzard!" a female voice shouted from behind them. The team turned and was surprised to see Elena, accompanied with five Shinra SOLDIERs, all who followed closely behind. "Shinra's heading up there and I'm here to make sure that you guys don't keep going!"

"Ya think you can stop us?!" Barret bellowed, raising his gun arm. "Ya gotta be kiddin'!"

"You guys killed Tseng!" Elena shouted. "I won't forgive you!"

"Tseng?" Tifa asked. "That wasn't us. It was Sephiroth."

"That's a lie!"

"We're not lying!" Yuffie childishly shouted back. "It was Sephiroth!"

"Why would I believe that?! Guards!"

Instantly all the SOLDIERs raised their blades, prepared to charge at the slightly group. "Say the word, ma'am!"

"Get them!" Elena instantly screamed.

Instantly, Cloud, Vincent, Barret, and Yuffie sprang forward, while the others rushed to clear the area of civilians. Cloud quickly ran up, tore his massive sword out, and slashed one guard quickly across the chest, then finished him off with a cut across the neck. Vincent took out his shotgun and immediately fired a shot at one of the SOLDIERs, who quickly fell to the ground in a bloody mess, then took out his revolver and fired one shot into the nearest guard's chest and another into his skull. Barret quickly blasted away a guard with his gun-arm, while Yuffie first slashed the final guard with her boomerang and then finished him with a Fire 2 spell.

Now all that remained was Elena and by this point the area was clear of any civilians so the entire group had rejoined, eight against one, and they were blocking any path for escape. Elena looked like she was about to charge in her rage, then she came to her senses, realizing that she was vastly outnumbered. "Oh damn…" Elena murmured, then started to back up, looking behind her and seeing that the rest of the group was blocking her escape path.

"Why are you here?" Vincent asked, aiming his revolver at her head, should she act up.

"I… I was supposed to stop you…" Elena murmured, absolutely despising the idea of having to speak with the enemy. Perhaps it wasn't that as much as it was talking to the people who, she believed, killed Tseng.

"Just you?" Vincent asked, curious as to why they would send a single Turk instead of the whole team. "Where are the other two?"

"Yeah!" Yuffie hopped, glancing around the area. "Where's Reno and Rude?"

"…" Elena kept her mouth closed and looked towards her feet. She knew what she was supposed to do, the Turks have been trained to not answer any questions, through torture or death.

But… things have been so far on the edge lately, with Sephiroth slaughtering Shinra troops all over and the people of Midgar starting to ask questions that the company couldn't answer, which made it challenging for Shinra to cease the people's complaints. Although they do control nearly all the information going into Midgar, if something slips through, like it has, there was little they could do once it reaches the mass public. So far, Shinra hasn't commented anything about the Sephiroth occurrences until they can find and eliminate the threat then deny, deny, deny.

Vincent, being a Turk himself, knew that Elena must have sworn an oath to Shinra to withhold all secret information. However, he would have to convince the woman to go against that oath and, being a Turk, he knew one very effective measure to get answers.

Vincent walked up to the woman and bashed her cheek with the butt of his revolver, making her stumble back. "Answer us. _Now_," Vincent demanded.

"I…" Elena murmured.

Tifa watched this with a slight rage towards Vincent. AVALANCHE has had several encounters with the Turks by this point and they knew that, really, they weren't such bad people. She remembered when, at Gongaga, they found the Turks talking about girls and other things. Hearing these supposed heartless assassins talking like that made the whole group realize that the Turks were indeed human, although they were still their enemies.

"Vincent…" Tifa said, walking up to the newest Turk. Vincent glanced at her, but then she crouched down next to Elena. "Listen to me. We _have_ to know what's going on. I know that your hurt over the loss of Tseng but… we're hurt over the loss of one of our friends too, Aeris… Sephiroth takes away loved ones from so many people… we have to stop him, we can even do it together."

"Together?" Elena asked, then laughed in the martial artist's face. "We're enemies! I know that you won't let me leave here alive!"

"You'll live, Elena," Vincent patiently told his enemy. "Just tell us why you are here alone. Where are the others?"

"…" Elena was silent, then looked up into the gunman's powerful red eyes. "You swear you'll let me go."

"Yes," Vincent told her.

"Reno and Rude are…" Elena ceased speaking, reconsidering, but then closed her eyes tight and defied her oath to Shinra. "They're protecting the others, who are heading to the Northern Crater."

"The Northern Crater?" Vincent asked. "How are they getting there?"

"Airship," Elena announced.

"When are they going to be there?"

Elena looked at her watch, slowly so that they would be aware that she wasn't reaching for a weapon, then answered, "Seven hours."

"Who is all heading there?" Cloud asked, walking up next to Vincent and Tifa.

"…" Elena was silent for a moment then sighed, figuring she had already gone this far, there was no backing out now nor a point in lying. "The president, Hojo, Scarlet, and Heidegger."

"What are they doing?" Cloud asked. "Is it for Sephiroth's reunion?"

"I don't know," Elena told him.

Instantly, Cloud swung his blade around and stopped it roughly two inches from her throat. "Don't lie. Tell me, _now_."

Elena almost let out a weep, but refused to show her weaknesses, as she was taught. "I really don't. We're paid to do a lot of things, but not to ask questions."

Cloud glanced at Vincent for confirmation, who nodded. He knew that often on missions that Turks are given names and locations of people, but not necessarily who they actually were. Also, Shinra themselves may not know what is actually going to happen there, except… Hojo might.

Vincent grimaced at the thought of Hojo, then focused back at his immediate threat. "Anything else?" Elena irritatingly asked.

Vincent returned his revolver to his holster, indicating he had asked all he thought they needed, Tifa shrugged, and finally Cloud returned his blade to its place. "That's enough," Cloud told the Turk.

She stood, glanced at all the members, then ran off before they were to reconsider their actions of letting her go. "We have to hurry," Cloud told his team, instantly turning to the hill that they would first have to travel down.

"Wait!" a middle aged man yelled, running out to the group before they left.

"Yeah?" Cloud asked, taking out the map and finding the fastest route to the crater, though he didn't think he would be able to find a way to get all the way there in only seven hours.

"We wanna thank you for helping us out with the Shinra, there," the man said. "We've had some trouble with Shinra in the past…"

"What is it?" Cloud impatiently asked. "We're in a hurry."

"Oh, sorry," the man said, then ran off towards a barn at the top of the hill. "Follow me!"

Cloud frowned, considering leaving the man, but followed him hoping for something that might help. They needed all the time they could get, he just hoped it would be worth it. They all followed the man to the barn, who then took out a key and unlocked the large barn doors, and within were five large black jeeps. The group instantly ran in and looked at the vehicles, Yuffie running up to one in particular (no one knowing why specifically that vehicle, since they all looked the same) and declared that it was the coolest one, gazing through the shaded windows at the interior.

"You like that one?" the man asked, taking out a set of keys from a cupboard on the wall and tossing it to the young ninja, who caught it and immediately unlocked the car, jumping into the front passenger seat.

"Thanks!" Cloud exclaimed, running over to the driver's door.

"Just be sure to return it," the man said with a grin.

The group, minus Yuffie, who couldn't hear what they were talking about from within the heavy jeep, all looked at each other. They all assumed that they would, seeing as how there's nowhere further north to go, only back this way, but there was always a chance that something would happen.

"We'll return it," Cloud said, quickly gazing over the group, hoping they would go along with it. None of them said a word. It wasn't until this moment that all of them realized just how close they were to finally finishing this whole ordeal. They had already gone so far and now was the final fight… with this in mind, they were all silent.

Cloud drove, Yuffie sat in the front passenger seat, Red XIII sat between the two seats on the ground, Vincent, Tifa, and Cid all sat in the back seats, with Tifa in the middle, then Cait Sith and Barret sat in the far back.

* * *

Traveling through the thick snow was an amazing challenge, even for the enormous jeep. At first, it wasn't horrible, it was slippery going down the hill, but it was manageable. Then, once they reached the bottom of the hill, it suddenly became amazingly thick. It seemed to be constantly snowing, making them unable to see too far ahead of them, so they tried as hard as they could to watch their position on the map. 

The path was hard even for the massive jeep to drive through. The wind was strong against the jeep, making it challenging to continue to go straight. All the snow was too challenging to drive through, occasionally they would get stuck. When this would happen, Vincent, Cloud, Barret, Cid, and Cait Sith would all get out while Tifa would try to drive the vehicle out of the snow bank.

They traveled through the snow for four long hours, and, according to the map, they should have been close to the crater. However, it was hard to tell where they really were on the map. At first it was easier, not easy but _easier_, since there were some landmarks and paths, but now it was just plains until they finally reached the crater. With the heavy wind and constant snowfall, it was hard to make sure that they were still going the right way.

"How much longer?!" Yuffie whined. She had been complaining for a few hours but she wouldn't have to complain for much longer. Vincent didn't know how far away the crater must be, but he did know that the jeep had to be running low on gas, especially since they had been pushing it so hard through the snow.

"It shouldn't be much longer…" Cloud murmured from behind the wheel. He had been repeating that to her ever since she had been asking, to which she always said…

"Better be!"

* * *

After maybe another half hour of driving through the tough snow, they had finally reached the base of the mountain, and a cabin just nearby. Everyone got out of the car and looked at the mountain, seeing that it was nearly a 90 degree angle straight up, with ledges occasionally sticking out. 

"Oh man!" Yuffie cried out. "How are we supposed to climb that?!"

"Damnit!" Cloud cursed. "Shit!"

Cloud seemed like he was starting to lose it to his friends, and they were dead on. All this time, the voice had been getting stronger and stronger in Cloud's mind. _Go, go, faster, faster, Sephiroth is just ahead_ it would taunt. _No!_ the voice in Cloud's mind was currently bellowing. _Keep going! You'll find a way!_

"Let's go up closer," Cloud said, interrupting a conversation that he hadn't been aware of since he had been speaking with the voice. "Maybe we'll find something up there!"

Without a word from the others, Cloud started walking up towards the mountain. "Wait, Cloud," Vincent spoke. "There's a cabin just over there, perhaps someone lives there."

"Oh yeah!" Cid exclaimed. "At the inn, they said some guy named… uh… Holsof, or something li-"

"Holzoff, actually," said someone from behind. Instantly, Vincent spun around, his hand already on the butt of his revolver, however, he saw that it was just some older man who had managed to get behind them since they couldn't hear over the wind and their own talking.

"Do you know _any_ way to climb this thing?" Cloud instantly asked, seeming mad in his task of scaling the mountain.

"Yes… my climbing partner, Yamski, and I used to climb this mountain," the old man began. "I must warn you, before you go up there. The wind is biting cold, the first time Yamski and I climbed the mountain we were… unprepared. I was ahead of Yamski and… because of the bitter cold… he cut his own rope and… and I never noticed… ever since then, I had been climbing the mountain and offering assistance to any of those who try to challenge the mountain themselves…"

Everyone had listened careful to the old man's story, realizing just how important it was that they were careful on their journey upwards. Cloud, however, wasn't listening at all as soon as he realized the old man was telling a story and not how to climb the mountain. Impatiently, Cloud then said, "How do we climb it, then?"

Everyone gave Cloud a cold glare, except for Vincent who didn't seem to care, for completely disrespecting the old man and his story. However, the old man seemed unaffected by the leader's rude behavior. "I have already set up ropes which you can climb, however, sometimes they snap so be sure to look and make sure they are all still connected, but this is hard due to heavy snow. And, like I said, the wind is bitter, so, on every ledge, be sure to warm up."

Cloud nodded, then turned back to the mountain, "Thanks, now lets go."

"Wait! You should rest first!" Holzoff exclaimed. "You can't climb the mountain just like that."

"We don't have any time," Cloud grumbled, then starting walking towards the mountain. "Let's move out, team."

Everyone grumbled, but he was right. According to Elena, the Shinra would be there in seven hours, although that had been at least four hours ago. The team walked up to the base and after a short while they found the first rope that was actually connected. Cloud led the team up with no hesitation, and moved much faster than the rest of them, ignoring their pleas to slow.

It was hard for a lot of the team to make it up the ropes, but Vincent and Yuffie helped them along the way. Vincent, seeing that Cloud was basically ignoring the group, took the rear of the group and carried Nanaki on his back, and occasionally helped the others when they were unsteady. Yuffie also was a great help because she was able to climb up the rope with expertise thanks to her Ninja classes. At first she was right behind Cloud, but then when she realized they were leaving the group behind, she quickly fell back and helped the others like Vincent.

Once the entire group reached the entrance of the cave, everyone was breathing heavily, especially Barret. Cloud, however, was already walking into the cave, drawing his weapon and telling the others that they were just going to run through the cave. "What?!" Barret bellowed. "Let's break for lunch! We all tired!"

"Cloud, Barret's right," Vincent spoke, walking to the front of the group. Vincent was noticing that his leadership skills that he learned in the Turks would occasionally peek through and he would be the voice of the group. "We would be useless if we go on like this, and we especially won't be able to run."

"We have to keep moving!" Cloud suddenly shouted. The group all looked wide eyed at Cloud, when he realized what he had done. "I… I'm sorry…" Cloud murmured, shaking his head, then quickly regaining his posture and walking back to the group. "Of course we should break for lunch."

"Good," Barret grumbled, instantly falling to the ground.

"What do you guys want?" Tifa asked, digging through Cait Sith's backpack .

"Just be sure to make it quickly," Cloud told the group. "We don't have much time left and we don't know how long it'll take to get to the crater."

Tifa nodded. Everyone knew that Cloud was pushing them too hard, but he was right. They had to beat Shinra there. Who knows what they would do to the situation, but it'll almost definitely not help.

Tifa was just glad that Vincent had stood up for the group and told Cloud that they should stop. She was surprised that Vincent spoke up for them, since he didn't really seem to care what the group did at all and, knowing how strong Vincent was, he probably could have easy kept going. But, she supposed he knew what was best for the group, he usually did. Maybe it had something to do with him being a leader of the Turks so long ago, like those days were starting to seep through his emotional wall.

She was glad at this development in Vincent. Maybe it was her who was helping him go back to his personality, but it didn't really matter, just as long as he becomes more… human. Tifa didn't like to think it that way, but it really was the best way she could think of to explain it.

* * *

After lunch, Cloud rushed the team forward through the cavern. He ran far ahead of them, trying to find the right path as quickly as he could. As they dashed through the ice cavern, many foes encountered them. With Cloud always running ahead to find the right path, it left the rest of the group to take down the monsters. However, it wasn't too challenging, but, after a short while, Vincent felt very strange. 

He couldn't quite explain how he felt. His mind felt very pressured and his skull tight, as though he were suffering from a headache. Hauntingly, he heard demonic howling inside of his head, as if something horrible was happening, or, perhaps, being created. He had been aware of Galian Beast's presence in his mind ever since the first time he had woken up in the Shinra mansion basement and it felt somewhat like that… but something more.

This felt like something horrible, perhaps Galian Beast was evolving, or maybe it was a whole other demon that was being birthed inside of his mind. Vincent was horrified at the thought. Just when, maybe, he was starting to gain some of his old habits, something new happens as if just to prove that he isn't human and probably will never regain that humanity he had before.

Due to all these thoughts going through his mind, he was very silent, which dismayed Tifa. Tifa had started walking next to him, hoping to have some sort of conversation, but instead he just walked silently looking down towards the ground, seeming deep in thought. Then, whenever any monsters would appear, Vincent would almost mechanically take out his gun and fight the monsters. Afterwards, he would quickly return to his former position of being deep in thought.

Fortunately for Vincent, the pain in his mind slowly began to cease, but he certainly felt a new presence there, one alongside of Galian Beast. Vincent felt as though he were being sucked dry from his humanity with the new presence in his mind, another monster no less. However, he decided that, over all, it was probably an advantage for the team. With this fight coming up soon, it would be nice to have another powerful demon on their side, despite the fact that Vincent despised using his powers.

After about an hour or two of traveling through the caverns they finally made to what it seemed to be the exit. However, they found one of the strange men in the large black overcoat, oddly enough he was lying on the ground, the group was unsure if he was even alive. Tifa quickly ran up to the fallen man and checked for vitals, surprised to find that it was there, although beating very slowly.

"He's alive!" Tifa exclaimed as the rest of the group huddled around her, except for Cloud who seemed impatient.

"S-Seph... Sephiroth…" the man murmured, then started to crawl forward towards the exit of the cavern.

Everyone watched in silence as he crawled roughly fifteen feet ahead of them, when suddenly, an enormous, two headed beast leapt through the wall, scoped up the body, and quickly swallowed the person down it's right throat. Each head had a long throat and looked identical, except for the color with one being red and the other being an icy blue. It had a large, thick scaly body, not unlike a snake's, and it echoed a horrendous roar at the group.

Cloud, with his sword already out, charged at the monster, leapt up and slashed at it's blue head. Once he had done that, the red head shot a Fire 2 spell at Cloud and the blue head followed with an Ice 2 spell. Yuffie quickly caught on about the weaknesses and cast a Fire 2 spell at the blue head and Cait Sith shot an Ice 2 spell at the red head.

"Shit, we'll split into teams!" Cloud shouted. "Vincent, Tifa, Red XIII, and Yuffie take care of the red head and Cid, Barret, Cait Sith, and I will take care of the blue head!"

The group quickly obliged and split into the teams. In Vincent's team, Tifa and Red XIII attacked with magic while Vincent and Yuffie each attacked the head with their long range weapons. The head managed to get a few attacks in, but the team was managing to keep the upper hand, and it looked like the same was happening with the other team.

Then everything changed. The two heads cast a devastating Earth spell which hit both teams, scrambling all of them. Then the two heads took the upper hand and quickly cast their fire and ice spells over the entire team. Vincent then knew that this would be the time to try out that new presence that is in his head.

Vincent felt for it and allowed it to take control. Vincent let out an awesome roar and charged for the beast as his muscles began to grow rapidly and over his clothes, like with Galian's transformation. This time, however, Vincent didn't grow purple fur but his skin turned green and his muscles buldged much larger than Galian Beast's. His chest grew out and short orange hair grew over his usual raven dark hair.

By the time the transformation was complete, this new monster had reached the two headed beast and slammed his massive fist into the beast's body, causing it to slide back due to the massive impact. Now the team could see Vincent's new form in its entirety. The beast still looked humanoid, although it was still at least three times the size of Barret, and with its green skin it reminded the team of the Frankenstein monster from the old horror movies, except for the lack of bolts in the side of its neck.

While the two headed monster was pushed back, the Vincent-monster raised its arms and bolts of lightning flew out of each and struck both the heads. Vincent then charged up and repeatedly smashed it's massive fists into each of the heads. The monster bellowed in rage and each head cast either a Fire 2 spell or an Ice 2 spell.

The Vincent-monster was struck back, but not too badly, and quickly used it's lightning spell on the two heads again, finally finishing the titanic beast. The Frankenstein like monster roared in triumph, then slowly began to shrink back to Vincent's form. Once completely transformed back, Vincent turned towards the group breathing heavily once more, then fell to the ground and went unconscious, like he had before when he transformed to Galian Beast.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews guys and keep them coming! 


End file.
